>rma 

al 

1 


• 


UBRAR 


^7sfr-~r  -/""• 


^ 


:i  They  approiched  slowly,  the  little  animal  permitting  them  to  come  quiti-  plow, 
and  then  the  children  saw  that  it  was  indeed  a  squirrel."  —p.  15. 


THE   MARTIN  AND   NELLY   STORIES 


LITTLE  BESSIE,  THE  CAEELESS  GIBL, 


OR 


SQUIBKELS,  NUTS,  AND  WATEft-CKESSES. 


BY 

JOSEPHINE  FRANKLIN, 

AUTHOR  OF    "NELLY   AND   HER    FRIENDS,"    "  NELLY'S   FIRST 
SCHOOL-DAYS,"    "  NELLY   AND   HER   BOAT,"    ETC. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  BROWN  AND   TAGGARD, 

25    AND    29     CORN  HILL. 
1861. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 

BROWN  AND  TAOGARD, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSIDE,   CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED    AND    PRINTED    BY  H.  0.  HODGHTON. 


LIST  OF  THE 


"IABTIN  AND  NELLY  STORIES," 


I.  NELLY  AND  HER  FRIENDS 

IE.  NELLY'S  FIRST  SCHOOL-DAYS. 

m.  NELLY  AND  HER  BOAT. 

IV.  LITTLE  BESSIE. 


V.  NELLY'S  VISIT. 

VI.  ZELMA. 

VII.  MARTIN. 

VIII.  COUSIN  REGULUS. 

IX.  MARTIN  AND  NELLY. 

X.  MARTIN  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 

XL  MARTIN  AND  THE  MILLER. 

XII.  TROUTING,  OR  GYPSYING  IN  THE  WOODS. 


C  O  N  T  E  N.T  S  . 


CHAPTER  I. 
GOING  NUTTING 


CHAPTER  n. 
THE  BIDE  HOME     ............     27 

CHAPTER  III. 
WATER-CRESSES      ............    41 


CHAPTER  IV. 
HUNGRY  FISHES  ............  68 

CHAPTER  V. 
LOST  .................  98 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  NEST  ...............  122 


v    LITTLE    BESSIE; 

OK, 

SQUIREELS,  NUTS,  AND  WATEECRESSES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

GOING   NUTTING. 

BESSIE  was  the  only  child  of  a  poor 
widow.  The  mother  and  daughter  lived 
alone  together  in  a  small  house,  about  half 
a  mile  from  Nelly's  home. 

Bessie's  father  died  when  she  was  quite 
young,  so  young  that  she  did  not  remem- 
ber him.  There  was  a  portrait  of  him, 
which  her  mother  kept  in  her  top  bureau 
drawer  in  her  own  room.  Occasionally 


8  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

the  little  girl  was  allowed  to  look  at  it 
It  made  her  feel  very  sad  to  do  so,  and  the 
tears  rose  in  her  eyes  whenever  she 
thought  of  what  her  mother  must  have 
suffered  in  so  great  a  loss.  In  the  hard 
task  which  fell  to  that  mother  of  support- 
ing herself  and  her  child,  she  did  not  mur- 
mur. Before  her  husband's  death,  she  had 
lived  in  very  comfortable  circumstances, 
but  this  did  not  unfit  her  to  work  for  her 
living  afterwards. 

She  gathered  and  sent  fruit  to  market 
from  her  little  place,  she  made  butter  and 
sold  it  to  whomever  cared  to  buy,  she  knit 
stockings  for  her  neighbors'  children,  and, 
every  winter,  quilted  to  order  at  least  one 
dozen  patchwork  counterpanes,  with  won- 
derful yellow  calico  suns  in  their  centre. 
By  these  means  she  contrived  to  keep  out 
of  debt,  and  amass  a  little  sum  besides. 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  9 

At  the  commencement  of  our  story,  how- 
ever, a  severe  fit  of  illness  had  so  wasted 
her  strength  and  devoured  her  little  means, 
that  the  poor  widow  felt  very  much  dis- 
couraged. The  approach  of  winter  filled 
her  with  dread,  for  she  knew  that  it  would 
be  to  her  a  time  of  great  suffering. 

Still,  feeble  as  she  was,  she  managed  to 
continue,  but  very  irregularly,  Bessie's 
reading  and  writing  lessons.  Bessie  was 
not  a  promising  scholar ;  she  liked  to  do 
any  thing  in  the  world  but  study.  She 
would  look  longingly  out  of  the  window  a 
dozen  times  in  the  course  of  a  single  les- 
son, and  when  her  mother  reproved  her 
by  rapping  her  rather  smartly  on  the  head 
with  her  thimble,  Bessie  would  only  laugh, 
and  say  she  guessed  her  skull  must  be 
thick,  for  the  lesson  would  not  get  through, 
and  the  thimble  did  not  hurt  a  bit ! 


10  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

Bessie,  and  Nellie  Brooks,  of  whom  my 
readers  have  heard  in  the  former  stories 
of  this  series,  were  very  much  attached  to 
each  other.  Bessie  was  younger  than  Nel- 
lie, but  that  did  not  stand  in  the  way  of 
their  affection.  Nellie,  imperfect  as  she 
was  herself,  used  to  try  sometimes  to  teach 
Bessie  how  to  improve  her  wild  ways.  Bes- 
sie would  listen  and  listen,  as  grave  as  a 
cat  watching  a  rat  hole,  but  her  little  eyes 
would  twinkle  in  the  midst  of  the  reproof, 
and  she  would  burst  into  a  merry  shout, 
and  say,  "  I  do  declare,  Nell,  it  isn't  any 
use  at  all  to  talk  to  me  about  being  any 
better.  I'm  like  the  little  birds";  they're 
born  to  fly  and  sing,  and  I'm  born  to  be 
horrid  and  naughty,  and  dance,  and  cry, 
and  laugh,  just  when  I  shouldn't,  —  there ! 
I  can't  be  good,  anyway.  Sometimes  I  try, 
and  mother  looks  as  pleased  as  can  be,  and 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  11 

all  at  once,  before  I  know  it,  I  flounder 
straight  into  mischief  again." 

One  beautiful  autumn  day,  Nellie  and 
/ 

Bessie  went  nutting  in  the  woods.  Each 
of  the  little  girls  had  a  basket  on  her  arm, 
and  Bessie  had  a  bag  besides ;  for  they  had 
great  hopes  of  coming  home  heavily  load- 
ed. It  was  early  in  October.  The  leaves 
of  the  trees  had  begun  to  fall,  but  those 
that  remained  were  bright  with  many 
colors,  the  crimson  of  the  maple  trees  par- 
ticularly, making  the  whole  woods  look  gay. 
A  soft,  golden  mist,  such  as  we  only  see  at 
this  season  of  the  year,  hung  over  every 
thing,  and  veiled  even  the  glitter  of  a  little 
river  which  flowed  past  the  village  and 
coursed  onward  to  the  ocean. 

At  first  the  children  met  with  very  little 
success.  The  first  few  nut-trees  they  en- 
countered had  evidently  been  visited  by 


12  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

some  one  before.  The  marks  of  trampling 
feet  were  visible  on  the  damp  ground  be- 
neath, and  the  branches  had  been  stripped 
in  such  rude  haste  as  to  take  away  both 
the  leaves  and  the  fruit. 

"  We'll  meet  better  luck  further  back  in 
the  woods,"  said  Nell;  "this  is  too  near 
home.  The  village  people  can  come  here 
too  easily  for  us  to  expect  to  find  any 
thing." 

They  walked  further  on  in  very  good 
spirits,  climbing  over  rocks  when  they 
came  to  them,  and  swinging  their  empty 
baskets  in  time  to  snatches  of  songs  which 
they  sang  together.  They  had  gone  in 
this  way  about  a  mile,  when  suddenly  Bes- 
sie stopped,  and  fixed  her  eyes  searchingly 
on  something  near  them  in  the  grass. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ? "  said  Nellie. 

"Hush,  hush ! "  said  Bessie,  softly,  "don't 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  13 

speak  for  a  minute  till  I  see  !  It's  an  ani- 
mal ! " 

"A  bear?"  exclaimed  Nellie,  in  some 
alarm,  quite  unmindful  of  Bessie's  request 
for  silence,  for  Nelly  was  a  little  bit  of  a 
coward,  and  had  a  firm  belief  in  all  woods 
being  full  of  wild  animals.  As  she  spoke, 
the  noise  seemed  to  startle  whatever  the 
creature  was  that  Bessie  was  watching,  for 
it  ran  quickly  among  the  dried  leaves  that 
strewed  the  grass,  and  bounded  on  a  high 
rock  not  far  distant. 

"  There ! "  said  Bessie,  in  a  vexed  tone, 
"  you've  frightened  him  away.  We  might 
have  tracked  him  to  his  hole  if  you  had 
kept  still." 

v 

"  I  was  afraid  it  was  a  bear,"  said  Nelly, 
half  ashamed. 

"  A  bear ! "  cried  Bessie,  in  great  scorn ; 
"  I'd  like  to  see  a  bear  in  these  woods." 


14  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"Would  you  ?   /wouldn't,"  said  Nelly. 

"  I  mean  —  well  —  I  mean  there  isn't  a 
bear  around  here  for  hundreds  of  miles. 
That  was  a  squirrel  you  frightened  away. 
Didn't  he  look  funny  springing  up  there?" 

"  He's  there  now,  looking  at  us.  Don't 
you  see  his  head  sticking  out  of  that  bush  ? 
What  bright  eyes  he  has." 

Bessie  found  that  it  was  so.  There  was 
the  squirrel's  head,  twisted  oddly  on  one 
side,  in  order  to  get  a  good  view  of  his  dis- 
turbers. His  keen  eyes  were  fixed  anx- 
iously on  them,  as  though  to  discover  the 
cause  of  their  intrusion.  Presently  he 
leaped  on  a  branch  of  a  shrub,  and  sat 
staring  solemnly  at  them. 

"It  can't  be  a  squirrel,"  said  Bessie, 
"  after  all ;  its  tail  is  not  half  bushy  or  long 
enough." 

"  It  jumps  like  one,"  said  Nellie,  "  and 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  15 

its  eyes  and  ears  are  just  like  a  squirrel's 
too.  See,  it's  gray  and  white ! " 

They  approached  slowly,  the  little  ani- 
mal permitting  them  to  come  quite  close, 
and  then  the  children  saw  that  it  was  in- 
deed a  squirrel,  but  that  its  tail  had,  by 
some  accident,  been  torn  nearly  half  away. 

"  Perhaps  it  has  been  caught  in  a  trap," 
suggested  Nelly. 

"  Or  in  a  branch  of  a  tree,"  said  Bessie. 
"  Well,  anyway,  little  Mr.  Squirrel,  we  shall 
know  you  again  if  we  meet  you." 

"I  should  say,"  exclaimed  Nelly,  "that 
there  must  be  plenty  of  nuts  somewhere 
near  us,  or  that  gray  squirrel  would  not  be 
likely  to  be  here." 

The  two  girls  now  set  about  searching 
for  a  hickory  nut-tree,  quite  encouraged  in 
the  thought  that  their  walk  was  to  be  re- 
warded at  last.  Nelly  was  right  in  her 


16  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

conjecture.  It  was  not  long  before  they 
recognized  the  well-known  leaf  of  the  spe- 
cies of  tree  of  which  they  were  in  quest. 
A  small  group  of  them  stood  together,  not 
far  distant,  and  great  was  the  delight  of  the 
children  to  find  the  ground  beneath  well 
strewed  with  nuts,  some  of  them  lying 
quite  free  from  their  rough  outer  shells, 
others  only  partially  opened,  while  many 
of  them  were  still  in  the  exact  state  in 
which  they  hung  upon  the  tree.  Of  course 
the  former  were  preferred  by  the  little  nut 
gatherers,  but  it  was  found  that  as  these 
did  not  fill  the  bag  and  baskets,  it  was 
necessary  to  shell  some*  of  the  remainder. 
Accordingly,  Bessie  selected  a  large  flat 
stone,  as  the  scene  of  operation,  and  pro- 
viding herself  with  another  small  one,  as  a 
hammer,  she  began  pounding  the  unshelled 
nuts,  and  by  these  means  accumulated  a 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  17 

second  store ;  Nelly  gathering  them,  and 
making  a  pile  beside  her,  ready  to  be  de- 
nuded of  their  hard  green  coverings. 

"  There,"  triumphantly  said  Nelly,  after 
a  little  while;  "  that  dear  little  squirrel  told 
the  truth.  Here  is  quite  a  pile  of  shells 
showing  the  mark  of  his  teeth.  See,  Bes- 
sie, he  has  nibbled  away  the  sides  of  all 
these,  and  eaten  the  meat.  How  neatly  it 
is  done,  and  what  sharp  little  fangs  he 
must  have ! " 

The  bag  and  baskets  were  soon  filled, 
and  the  two  children  turned  homeward. 
The  day  was  a  warm  one  for  that  season 
of  the  year,  and  their  burdens  were  very 
hard  to  carry  on  that  account.  Many  a 
time  they  paused  on  the  path  to  put  down 
the  baskets  and  rest. 

"  I  hope,"  said  Nelly,  "  that  when  we  get 
>out  to  the  open  road,  some  wagon  will 


18  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

come  along  that  will  give  us  a  lift.  Who 
would  have  thought  that  nuts  could  be  so 
heavy  ?  I  am  so  warm  and  so  thirsty,  I  do 
not  know  how  to  get  along,  and  there  isn't 
a  single  brook  about  here  that  we  can 
drink  out  of." 

"I'll  tell  you  how  we  will  fix  it,"  said 
Bessie.  "I  remember,  last  year,  when  I 
came  nutting,  I  saw  a  little  house,  a  poor 
little  concern,  —  not  half  as  nice  as  ours, 
and  dear  knows  that  is  poor  enough, — 
standing  in  the  edge  of  the  wood,  about 
half  a  mile  below  where  we  are  now.  We 
can  stop  when  we  get  there,  and  I  will 
go  in  and  borrow  a  tin  cup  to  drink  out  of 
the  well." 

"  A  half  mile !  "  echoed  Nelly,  in  .a  tone 
of  weariness ;  "  I  don't  believe  we  shall  get 
there  in  an  hour,  I  am  so  very,  very  tired." 

They  walked   on   slowly,   the   peculiar 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  19 

heaviness  of  the  warm  October  day  mak- 
ing each  of  them  feel  that  to  go  nutting 
in  such  weather  was  very  hard  work.  At 
last  the  little  house  presented  itself.  It 
was  a  poor  place  indeed.  It  was  built  of 
rough  pine  boards  that  had  never  been 
painted.  A  dog  lay  sleeping  before  the 
door,  the  upper  half  of  which  was  open, 
and  through  which  the  sunshine  poured 
into  the  room.  The  house  stood,  as  Bessie 
had  said,  on  the  edge  of  the  wood,  large, 
fertile  fields  extending  in  the  distance,  on 
the  opposite  side  from  that  by  which  the 
children  had  approached  it. 

"  You  knock,"  said  Bessie,  getting  struck 
with  a  fit  of  shyness,  as  the  two  walked  up 
the  path  to  the  door. 

"No,  you"  said  Nelly,  "I  don't  know 
what  to  say."  - 

The  dog  got  up,  stretched  himself,  and 


20  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

gave  vent  to  a  low  growl,  as  he  surveyed 
the  new  comers. 

"Good  fellow,  nice  fellow/'  said  Bessie, 
coaxingly,  putting  out  her  hand  towards 
him  as  she  did  so ;  but  the  good,  nice  fel- 
low's growl  deepened  into  a  loud,  savage 
bay.  The  children  stood  still,  irresolute 
whether  to  retreat  or  not.  Attracted  by 
the  noise,  a  pale,  sickly  girl  about  fifteen 
years  of  age,  came  to  the  door,  and  leaning 
over  the  lewer  half  which  was  shut,  seemed 
by  looking  at  them  to  ask  what  they 
wanted. 

"  Please,"  said  Bessie,  "  would  you  mind 
.lending  me  a  tin  dipper  to  drink  out  of  at 
your  well?" 

"Haven't  got  any  well,"  said  the  girl; 
"  but  you  can  drink  out  of  the  spring  if 
you've  a  mind  to.  There  it  is,  down  by 
that  log:  it  runs  right  from  under  it. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  21 

You'll  find  a  mug  lying  'long  side.  Do 
stop  your  noise,  Tiger." 

The  children  set  down  their  baskets,  and 
moved  towards  the  spring  very  gladly. 
They  found  the  mug,  and  each  enjoyed  a 
drink  of  the  pure,  cold  water.  While  do- 
ing so,  they  observed  that  near  the  little 
barn  at  the  rear  of  the  house,  a  man  was 
harnessing  a  sleek,  comfortable  looking 
horse  to  a  market  wagon,  laden  with  cab- 
bages and  potatoes.  The  man  was  thin 
and  white  looking,  and  it  seemed  to  the 
children  as  if  the  proper  place  for  him 
were  his  bed.  He  did  not  see  the  visitors, 
but  went  on  with  his  work.  The  girls 
having  finished  drinking,  returned  to  the 
front  door,  over  which  still  leaned  the 
sickly  girl. 

"  Much  obliged  to  you,"  said  Nelly,  "  it's 
a  beautiful  spring ;  clear  and  cold  as  ever 
I  saw." 


22  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

« 'Tisn't  healthy  though,"  said  the  girl ; 
"  leastways,  we  think  it's  that  that  brings 
us  all  down  with  the  fever  every  spring 
and  fall." 

"  The  fever ! "  echoed  Bessie,  "  what  fe- 
ver?" 

"The  fever'n  nager,"  replied  the  girl. 
"  Mother  is  in  bed  with  it  now,  and  though 
father  is  getting  ready  to  go  to  town  to 
market,  the  shakin'  is  on  him  right  power- 
ful. I'm  the  only  one  that  keeps  about, 
and  that  is  much  as  ever,  too." 

"  What  makes  you  drink  it  ?  "  asked  Bes- 
sie. "  I  wouldn't,  if  it  made  me  so  sick." 

"Have  to,"  said  the  girl,  "there  is  no 
other  water  hereabouts." 

"  Can't  your  father  move  ?  "  said  Nelly. 

The  girl  shook  her  head. 

"  Wouldn't  he  like  to,  if  he  could  ? "  con- 
tinued Nelly. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  23 

"  I  guess  not/'  said  the  girl,  "  we  mean 
to  get  used  to  it.  We  can't  afford  to  move. 
Father  owns  the  place,  and  he  has  no 
chance  to  sell  it.  The  farm  is  good,  too. 
We  raise  the  best  cabbages  and  potatoes 
around  here.  Guess  you've  been  nutting, 
haven't  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Bessie,  with  some  pride,  "  we 
have  those  two  baskets  and  this  bag  full? 

"  Is  it  much  fun  ? "  asked  the  girl  pleas- 
antly. 

"  Splendid,"  said  Bessie ;  "  don't  you  ever 
try  it?" 

u  No ;  I'm  always  too  sick  in  nut  sea- 
son —  have  the  shakes.  But  I  do  believe 
I  should  like  to  some  time.  Are  you  two 
little  girls  going  soon  again  ?  " 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Bessie,  "may  be  so. 
If  we  do,  shan't  we  stop  and  see  if  you  are 
able  to  go  along  ?  Your  house  isn't  much 


24  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

out  of  the  way;  we  can  stop  just  as  well 
as  not." 

The  pale  girl  looked  quite  gratified  at 
these  words  of  Bessie,  but  said  that  she 
didn't  know  whether  the  "  shakes "  would 
allow  her. 

"Well,"  said  Bessie,  "we  will  stop  for 
you,  anyway.  My  mother  would  say,  I 
am  sure,  that  the  walk  would  "do  you  good. 
Good-by.  I  hope  you  will  all  get  better 
soon." 

"  Stop  a  moment,"  said  the  girl,  "  don't 
you  live  somewhere  down  by  the  Brooks' 
farm?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Nelly,  "  that  is  my  home, 
and  Bessie  lives  only  a  little  way  beyond." 

"  I  thought  so,"  said  the  girl,  smiling,  "  I 
think  I've  seen  you  when  I  have  been  rid- 
ing by  with  father.  He's  going  that  way, 
now:  wouldn't  you  like  to  get  in  the 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  25 

wagon  with  him  ?  He  will  pass  your 
house." 

"  Oh,  I  guess  his  load  is  heavy  enough 
already,"  said  Nelly. 

"Nonsense,"  said  the  girl;  "you  just 
wait  here,  while  I  go  ask  him." 

She  darted  off  before  they  could  detain 
her,  and  hi  a  short  time  more,  the  horse 
and  wagon  appeared  round  the  corner  of 
the  house,  the  man  driving  the  fat  horse 
(which,  as  far  as  the  children  could  see, 
was  the  only  fat  living  creature  on  the 
place),  and  the  girl  walking  at  the  wagon 
side. 

"There  they  are,"  the  children  heard 
her  say,  as  she  neared  them. 

The  man  smiled  good  naturedly,  and 
bade  Bessie  and  Nelly  jump  in.  He  ar- 
ranged a  comfortable  seat  for  them  on 
the  board  on  which  he  himself  sat. 


26  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"  But  isn't  your  load  very  heavy  already, 
sir  ?  "  asked  Nelly. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  said  the  farmer ;  "  my 
horse  will  find  it  only  a  trifle,  compared  to 
what  we  usually  take.  It  isn't  full  market 
day  to-morrow  is  the  reason.  Jump  in! 
jump  in!" 

The  children  needed  no  other  bidding, 
but  clambered  up  by  the  spokes  of  the 
great  wheels  and  seated  themselves,  one 
on  each  side  of  the  farmer,  who  took  their 
nuts,  and  placed  them  safely  back  among 
his  vegetables. 

Then  he  cracked  his  whip,  and  called 
out,  "  Good-by,  Dolly.  I'll  be  home  about 
eleven  o'clock  to-night.  Take  good  care 
of  your  mother." 

The  next  moment  the  little  girls  were 
in  the  road,  going  homeward  as  fast  as  the 

• 

sleek  horse  could  carry  them. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  27 


CHAPTER  H. 

THE    BIDE    HOME. 

"  So  you've  been  nutting,  eh  ?  "  said  Mr. 
Dart  (for  that  was  the  farmer's  name), 
looking  first  on  one  side  of  him  and  then 
on  the  other,  where  his  two  companions 
sat. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Nelly,  "  and  we  have  had 
real  good  luck  too.  Only  see  how  full  our 
baskets  are." 

"Dolly  told  me  you  were  going  to  stop 
for  her  some  time,  to  go  nutting  with 
you,"  said  the  farmer,  turning  round  as  he 
spoke,  and  putting  a  cabbage  that  was  jolt- 
ing out  of  the  wagon  back  into  its  place. 
"I  am  glad  of  that:  I  hope  she  will  be 
able  to  accompany  you.  If  you  should 


28  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

chance  to  come  on  one  of  her  well  days,  I 
guess  she  will." 

"  Well  days,  sir  ?  "  asked  Bessie. 

"  Yes ;  she  has  the  fever'n  nager  pretty 
bad,  and  that  brings  her  a  sick  day  and  a 
well  day,  by  turns.  It's  the  natur'  of  the 
disease." 

"  What !  sick  every  other  day ! "  cried 
Bessie  j  — "  well,  if  that  is  not  too  bad  ! 
And  she  seems  so  good  too.  Why,  we 
owe  this  ride  to  her." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  farmer,  "  Dolly  is  a  pret- 
ty good  little  girl.  Never  had  much  trou- 
ble with  Dolly  in  all  her  life.  She's  always 
willin'  to  help  round  the  house  as  much  as 
she  can,  and  now  that  her  mother  is  down 
with  the  nager,  I  couldn't  get  along  with- 
out her,  anyway.  In  the  summer  time 
Dolly  makes  garden  with  the  best  of  us. 
Many  is  the  field  she's  sowed  with  grain, 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  29 

after  I've  ploughed  it  up.  Half  of  these 
ere  cabbages  Dolly  cut  and  put  in  the 
wagon  herself.  You  see  that  little  basket 
back  in  the  corner  ?  " 

The  children  looked  back  in  the  wagon, 
and  there,  sure  enough,  was  a  small  cov- 
ered basket,  jolting  around  among  the  po- 
tatoes. 

"  That's  Dolly's  water  cresses,"  said  Mr. 
Dart.  "  I  haven't  taken  a  load  to  market 
for  the  last  month  without  Dolly's  basket 
of  watercresses.  She  gathers  them  herself, 
down  in  our  meadow,  where  the  ground 
is  wet  and  soft,  and  where  they  thrive  like 
every  thing.  They  seem  to  be  getting  poor 
now,  and  I  don't  believe  Doll  will  be  able 
to  pick  many  more  this  year.  Why,  the 
money  that  girl  has  made  off  them  cresses 
is  wonderful.  I  always  hand  it  right  over 
to  her,  and  she  puts  it  by  to  save  against 


30  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

a  time  of  need.  Cresses  sell  just  like  wild- 
fire in  our  market-place,  —  I  mean,  of 
course,  fine  ones  like  my  Dolly's  are  in 
their  prime." 

"  Cresses,"  said  Bessie,  with  growing  in- 
terest, "do  people  really  pay  money  for 
cresses  ?  Why,  the  field  back  of  our  house 
is  full  of  'em!  They  have  great,  thick, 
green  leaves,  and  they  look  as  healthy  as 
possible." 

"  Do  they  ?  "  said  the  farmer,  smiling  at 
her  kindly;  "well,  then  I  can  just  tell 
you  your  folks  are  fortunate.  They 
ought  to  sell  'em  and  make  money  out 
of  them." 

"  I  wish  we  could,"  said  Bessie,  clasping 
her  hands  at  the  thought,  "how  glad 
mother  would  be  if  we  could !  Mother  is 
sick,  sir,  and  cannot  do  all  the  work  she 
used,  to  earn  money." 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  31 

"Ah,"  said  the  farmer,  with  a  look  of 
concern  ;  "  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that, 
my  little  girl.  I  know  what  it  is  to  be 
sick,  and  have  sick  folks  about  me. 
What's  the  matter  ?  has  she  got  the  nager 
too?" 

"No,  sir,"  said  Bessie,  "we  don't  have 
that  down  our  way.  I  don't  know  what 
does  ail  mother.  She  sort  o'  wastes  away 
and  grows  thin  and  pale." 

"Like  enough  it's  the  nager,"  said  the 
farmer ;  "  there  is  nothing  like  it  for  mak- 
ing a  body  thin  and  pale." 

"  That's  Bessie's  house,"  cried  Nelly,  as 
a  sudden  turn  in  the  road  revealed  their 
two  homes,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  "that 
white  one  with  the  smoke  curling  out  of 
the  left  hand  chimney." 

"  And  a  nice  little  place  it  is  too,"  said 
^he  farmer.  "I  pass  right  by  it  almost 


32  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

every  day,  and  sometimes  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  when  all  little  girls  are  in  their 
beds  and  asleep." 

Bessie  looked  at  the  kind-hearted  far- 
mer, and  wondered  to  herself  what  could 
bring  him  so  near  her  home  in  the  night- 
time. As  her  thoughts  by  this  time  were 
pretty  well  filled  with  what  he  called  the 
"  nager,"  she  concluded  that  it  must  be  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  the  doctor  for  him- 
self and  his  family.  The  farmer,  however, 
who  seemed  fond  of  talking,  soon  unde- 
ceived her. 

"  You  see,"  he  began,  u  that  it  is  a  very 
long  drive  from  my  house  to  town,  say 
eight  miles,  at  the  least,  and  when  I  start 
as  I  have  to-day,  about  sundown,  it  takes 
me,  with  a  heavy  load,  generally,  till  half 
past  eight  o'clock  to  get  to  the  market. 
Well,  then  I  unload,  and  sell  out  to  a  reg- 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  33 

ular  customer  I  have,  a  man  who  keeps  a 
stand  of  all  sorts  of  vegetables,  and  who 
generally  buys  them  over  night  in  this 
way.  Then  I  turn  round  and  come  back. 
It  is  often  eleven  o'clock  when  I  reach 
home  and  go  to  bed.  Sometimes,  again, 
according  to  the  orders  I  have  from  town, 
Dobbin  and  I  start  —  " 

"Dobbin?"  interrupted  Bessie,  "is  Dob- 
bin the  horse,  sir  ?  " 

The  farmer  nodded  smilingly,  and  con- 
tinued, "  Dobbin  and  I  start  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and  we  go  rattling  into 
market,  just  in  time  to  have  the  things 
hurriedly  sorted  and  in  their  places,  before 
the  buyers  begin  to  throng  about  the  stalls. 
I  stop  there  a  while,  but  I  get  home  before 
noon,  and  Dolly  always  has  my  dinner 
ready  to  rest  me,  while  Dobbin  eats  his  to 
rest  him" 


34  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"  I  wish  Dolly  could  go  to  our  school," 
said  Nelly,  after  a  pause.  "  Miss  Milly,  our 
teacher,  is  so  good  to  us  all.  She  lives  in 
this  little  house  that  we  are  passing." 

The  farmer  looked  round  at  the  school- 
house,  and  Nelly  thought  she  heard  him 
sigh  as  he  did  so.  "  Dolly  is  a  smart  girl, 
and  a  nice  girl,"  said  he,  gravely,  "  but  I 
am  afraid  her  mother  and  I  can't  give  her 
much  book  larnin'.  Wish  I  could :  but 
times  are  hard  and  money  scarce.  Dolly 
knows  how  to  read  and  write,  and  I  guess 
she  will  have  to  be  content.  Her  health 
isn't  strong,  either,  and  she  couldn't  stand 
study." 

"Here  we  are,  sir,  this  is  our  house," 
cried  Nelly,  as  the  wagon  neared  the  farm- 
house gate.  "I'm  very  much  obliged  to 
you  for  my  lift." 

The  farmer  handed  down  her  basket  of 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  35 

nuts,  and  told  her  she  was  quite  welcome. 
Bessie  called  out  good-by,  and  the  farmer 
drove  on  again.  A  short  distance  brought 
them  to  Bessie's  house.  As  she  in  her  turn 
was  getting  down,  Mr.  Dart  asked  her  if 
she  had  any  objections  to  show  him  the 
water-cress  field  of  which  she  had  spoken. 
Bessie  was  delighted  to  do  it,  so  Dobbin 
was  tied  to  a  tree,  and  the  little  girl  led 
the  way  to  the  back  of  the  house. 

"  Does  the  field  belong  to  your  mother  ?  " 
asked  the  farmer. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Bessie,  "  this  house  and 
the  garden  and  the  wet  meadow  where 
the  watercresses  grow,  mother  owns  them 
all.  She's  sick  now,  as  I  told  you,  sir,  and 
oftentimes  she  lies  in  her  bed  and  cries  to 
think  we  can't  get  on  better  in  the  world. 
I'd  help  her,  if  I  could,  but  I  don't  know 
any  thing  to  do." 


36  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

It  did  not  take  long  to  reach  the  wet 
meadow,  as  Bessie  called  it.  It  lay  only 
a  stone's  throw  back  of  the  house.  It  was 
called  "wet,"  because  a  beautiful  brook 
coursed  through  it,  and  moistened  the 
ground  so  much  as  to  render  it  unprofit- 
able for  cultivation.  The  watercresses 
had  it  all  their  own  way.  They  grew  wild 
over  nearly  the  whole  field,  and  extended 
down  to  the  very  edge  of  the  brook,  and 
leaned  their  beautiful  bright  leaves  and 
graceful  stems  into  the  little  stream,  as  it 
flowed  over  the  pebbles. 

Bessie  led  the"  farmer  to  a  large,  flat 
stone,  where  they  could  stand  with  dry 
feet  and  survey  the  scene.  The  sun 
was  just  setting;  they  could  see  the  glow 
in  the  west  through  the  grove  of  trees 
that  skirted  the  outer  edge  of  the  field; 
the  birds  were  just  chirping  their  mourn- 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  37 

ful  October  songs,  as  they  flew  about,  seek- 
ing for  a  shelter  for  the  coming  night; 
the  murmur  of  the  brook  added  not  a 
little  to  the  serenity  of  the  hour. 

The  farmer  stooped,  and  reaching  his 
hand  among  the  wet  earth  where  the 
cresses  grew,  plucked  one,  and  tasted  it. 

"It  is  as  fine  as  any  I  ever  ate,"  said 
he,  "and,  as  far  as  I  see,  your  mother's 
meadow  is  full  of  just  such  ones.  The 
frost  and  the  cold  winds  have  spoiled 
ours,  but  yours  are  protected  by  that 
hill  back  there,  and  are  first-rate." 

K  Do  you  think  we  could  get  money  for 
them  ? "  cried  Bessie,  jumping  up  and 
down  on  the  loose  stone  on  which  they 
stood,  until  it  shook  so  as  almost  to  make 
her  lose  her  balance  and  fall  into  the 
water ;  "  do  you  think  people  will  Ivy 
them?" 


38  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

u  Certainly,"  said  the  farmer,  giving  his 
lips  a  final  smack  over  the  remnant  of  the 
cress,  "certainly  I  do,  and  they  are  so 
clear  from  weeds  it  will  be  no  trouble  to 
gather  them.  What  is  your  name,  little 
girl?" 

"Bessie,  sir,  and  my  mother's  name  is 
that  too.  "Wouldn't  you  like  to  come  in 
and  see  her  for  a  moment,  to  tell  her  about 
the  cresses?" 

"Not  to-day,"  said  the  farmer,  shaking 
his  head,  and  looking  at  the  sinking  sun ; 
"  it  grows  late,  and  I  have  a  long  journey 
to  go,  but  I'll  tell  you  what  I  mil  do.  I 
go  to  market  again  the  day  after  to-mor- 
row, and  I  leave  home  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  or  thereabouts.  Now,  I'm 
sorry  to  hear  of  your  mother's  troubles, 
and  I  want  to  help  her  if  I  can.  You  tell 
her  all  I  have  said  about  the  cresses 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  39 

bringing  a  good  price,  and  see  if  she  has 
any  objections  to  your  gathering  a  big 
basket  full,  and  having  it  ready  to  send 
to  market  when  1  pass  by.  I  can  take 
one  for  you  just  as  well  as  not,  three  or 
four  times  a  week.  Leave  it  just  inside 
the  gate,  and  I  will  get  it,  for  it  will 

ft 

be  too  early  for  you  to  be  up." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Bessie,  her  face  perfectly 
radiant  with  smiles;  "how  good  you  are 
to  take  so  much  trouble  —  how  good  you 
are !  I'll  tell  mother  all  about  you,  be  sure 
of  that." 

"And  now  I  must  be  off,"  said  Nthe 
farmer,  stepping  from  the  flat  stone  into 
the  moist  grass  and  picking  his  way  as 
wrell  as  he  could  towards  the  house,  and 
thence  to  the  gate.  Bessie  followed  him 
to  the  road,  and  watched  him  untie  old 
Dobbin.  The  tears  came  in  her  eyes  as 
she  called  out, 


40  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

"  Good-by,  sir,  good-by." 

The  farmer  turned,  half  smiled  to  see 
how  grateful  the  poor  child  looked,  and 
said  kindly, 

"/jood-by,  Bessie." 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  41 


CHAPTER  m. 

WATER-CRESSES. 

BESSIE'S  mother  was  both  surprised  and 
rejoiced  to  hear  of  the  kindness  of  the 
farmer.  It  seemed  to  her  a  great  stroke 
of  good  fortune.  The  little  sum  of  money 
which  she  had  saved  in  more  prosperous 
days  was  almost  exhausted,  and  it  had  been 
a  bitter  thought  to  her  to  know,  that  when 
this  should  be  gone,  they  would  have 
nothing.  The  little  house  in  which  they 
lived  could  be  sold,  it  is  true,  but  the 
widow  had  always  looked  upon 'it  in  the 
light  of  a  home,  and  not  as  an  article  to  be 
disposed  of  for  support. 

A  ready  consent  was  given  that  Bessie 
should  try  what  she  could  do  with  the 


42  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

water-cresses.  The  little  girl  was  delighted 
at  the  prospect,  and  already  she  saw  her- 
self the  future  possessor  of  a  great  deal 
of  money. 

Her  mother  wanted  her  to  gather  the 
cresses  the  night  previous  to  the  morning 
on  which  the  farmer  was  expected,  but  in 
her  enthusiasm,  Bessie  insisted  that  they 
would  be  far  fresher  and  nicer  when  they 
reached  market  if  she  should  do  so  at  day- 
break; and  she  promised  faithfully  to  rise 
in  sufficient  time  to  accomplish  the  feat. 

"But,  my  child,"  said  her  mother,  "it 
will  not  be  light  enough  for  you  to  choose 
the  best  cresses,  and  the  farmer  may  come 
before  yoli  get  through,  and  of  course  we 
could  not  ask  him  to  wait.  No,  gather 
them  late  in  the  afternoon,  carefully  select 
the  poor  ones,  and  the  dead  leaves  and 
grasses  that  may  be  mingled  with  them, 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  43 

and  the  rest  put  in  the  oak  pail  and  cover 
them  with  clean  water.  In  the  morning 
you  can  rise  as  early  as  you  please,  and 
fasten  them  up  securely  in  the  large  bas- 
ket, and  be  ready  to  give  them  to  the 
farmer  yourself,  if  you  would  like  to  do  so 
when  he  passes." 

Bessie  acknowledged  that  this  was  wisest. 
Accordingly,  towards  the  latter  part  of  the 
day  before  the  appointed  morning,  she 
provided  herself  with  a  basket  and  the 
garden  scissors,  to  go  down  «to  the  brook 
and  begin  her  undertaking.  Previous  to 
doing  so,  however,  she  put  her  head  in 
her  mother's  room  and  called  out  with  a 
gay  laugh,  "  good-by,  mother,  I  am  going 
to  make  a  fortune  for  you  yet,  see  if  I 
don't ! " 

Her  mother  smiled,  and  when  Bessie 
shut  the  door  and  jumped  lightly  down 


44  LITTLE  BESSIE. 

the  stairs,  two  at  a  time,  she  felt  as  though 
her  child's  courage  and  hopefulness  were 
really  infusing  courage  and  hopefulness 
into  herself 

Singing  at  the  top  of  her  lungs,  Bessie 
set  to  work.  Never  had  she  felt  as  light- 
hearted  and  happy.  She  tucked  up  her 
calico  dress  a  little  way,  into  the  strings 
of  her  apron,  in  .order  to  keep  it  out  of  the 
wet,  and  drew  off  her  shoes  and  stockings. 
Then  arming  herself  with  the  scissors,  she 
cut  vigorously  among  the  cresses ;  taking 
care,  however,  to  choose  only  those  that 
presented  a  fine  appearance,  for  she  was 
determined  that  the  first  specimens  the 
farmer  took  with  him,  should  be  so  fine  as 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  buyers,  and 
thus  induce  them  to  come  again.  A 
shrewd  little  business  woman  was  Bessie  ! 
She  had  her  basket  sitting  on  some  stones 


••  She  was  clipping  at  the  cresses,  when  she  heard  some  one  call  her  name, 
p.  45. 


»• 


-LITTLE- BESSIE.  45 

near  her,  and  when  she  moved  further  up 
and  down  the  brook,  she  was  careful  al- 
ways to  move  that  also.  She  was  singing 
away  as  loudly  and  heartily  as  she  could, 
and  clipping  at  the  cresses,  when  she  heard 
some  one  call  her  name.  She  looked  up, 
and  there  stood  a  boy  about  fourteen  years 
old,  named  Martin,  who  lived  on  Nelly's 
father's  farm.  He  looked  as  though  he 
wanted  very  much  to  laugh  at  the  odd 
figure  which  Bessie  cut;  her  sun-bonnet 
hanging -by  its  strings  to  her  neck,  her 
dress  tucked  up  to  the  knees,  a  pair  of 
shears  in  one  hand,  an  enormous  basket  in 
the  other,  and  both  of  her  bare  feet  in  the 

brook. 

• 

"  Why,  Bessie,"  saidy  Martin,  "  what  a 
noise  you  have  been  making!  I  called 
you  four  or  five  times  real  loud,  and  I 
whistled  too,  and  yet  you  went  on  singing 


46  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

'  Old  folks  at  home,'  and  ( Little  drops  of 
water,'  as  though  your  ears  were  not  made 
to  hear  any  voice  but  your  own ! " 

"  That's  'cause  I'm  so  happy,"  said  Bes- 
sie. "  Why,  Martin,  I'm  beginning  to  earn 
my  own  living,  —  think  of  that.  Isn't  it 
fun  though?"  and  she  splashed  through 
the  stream  to  have  a  nearer  talk  with  her 
visitor. 

"Earning  your  living!"  repeated  Mar- 
tin ;  "  well,  I  should  call  playing  in  the 
brook,  as  you  seemed  to  be  just  now,  any 
thing  but  that." 

"Playing!"  echoed  Bessie,  with  some 
indignation,  "  I  am  a  big  girl  of  nine  now, 
and  I  am  not  going  to  play  any  more;  I 
am  going  to  work.  Don't  you  see  these 
cresses  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Martin,  "but  they're  not 
good  for  much,  are  they  ?  " 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  47 

"  Good  !  "  laughed  Bessie,  capering 
about,  quite  unmindful  of  bare  ankles, 
"  Good !  I  shouldn't  wonder  much  if  they 
were.  Why,  Martin  Wray,  I'm  to  sell 
'em,  and  get  money  for  'em  —  plenty  of 
it  —  till  my  pockets  are  so  full  that  they 
cannot  hold  any  more  —  there ! " 

"  Money  ! "  said  Martin,  "  you  don't 
mean  to  say  people  buy  cresses?  What 
can  they  do  with  them?" 

"Eat  'em,"  replied  Bessie,  promptly; 
"mother  says  rich  folks  buy  them  to 
make  into  salads,  —  mustard,  pepper,  salt, 
vinegar,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  you 
know.  Mother  says  they  are  just  in 
their  prime  now." 

Martin  stooped  and  helped  himself  to 
a  handful  of  the  cresses.  He  did  not 
seem  to  like  their  flavor,  but  made  wry 
faces  over  them. 


48  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"  Dear,  dear,"  he  said,  "  how  they  bite ! 
They  will  take  my  tongue  off." 

"That's  the  beauty  of  'em."  said  Bes- 
sie, coolly,  "that's  a  proof  that  they  are 
good.  Mother  says  when  they  grow  flat 
and  insipid  they  don't  bring  a  fair  price." 

"But  isn't  this  late  in  the  year  for 
them?"  asked  her  visitor. 

"No,"  was  the  answer;  "this  is  just 
the  best  of  the  fall  crop,  and  they  will 
last  for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  and  maybe 
all  winter,  if  the  season  is  mild.  May  is 
the  great  spring  month  for  them,  and 
October  the  one  in  the  autumn.  Mother 
told  me  she  brushed  the  snow  away  from 
a  little  patch  last  Christmas,  and  there 
they  were  just  as  fresh  and  green  as  ever." 

"And  who  are  you  going  to  sell  them 
to?"  asked  Martin. 

"  A   farmer,"    answered    Bessie,    "  who 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  49 

lives  up  in  the  nutting  woods  has  prom- 
ised to  take  them  to  market." 

"Oh,"  said  Martin,  "that  reminds  me 
of  what  I  came  for.  Nelly  knew  I  had 
to  pass  by  here  to-day  with  a  letter,  and 
she  asked  me  to  inquire  if  you  would 
go  nutting  with  her  and  me  to-morrow. 
She  wants  to  stop  for  another  little  girl 
too,  I  believe." 

"Dolly?"  said  Bessie. 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  Martin,  "what 
her  name  was.  She  said  it  was  a  girl 
who  had  the  fever  and  ague." 

"That's  Dolly!"  cried  Bessie,  joyfully, 
"Dolly  has  it  aivful.  Just  wait  here  a 
minute  while  I  run  ask  m«ther  if  she 
can  spare  me." 

She  went  skipping  in  the  house,  and 
in  a  short  time  her  bare  feet  were  heard 
skipping  out  again. 


50  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"Yes,"  she  cried,  triumphantly  waving 
her  sun-bonnet,  "  mother  told  me  '  yes.' " 

Martin  now  said  he  must  go  on  and 
deliver  his  letter,  and  Bessie  bade  him 
good-by,  and  went  back  to  her  cresses. 
In  a  little  while  the  basket  was  filled 
with  the  very  finest  the  brook  afforded, 
and  she  carried  them  in  the  house  to 
place  in  water  as  her  mother  had  di- 
rected. 

The  next  morning,  as  the  gray  dawn 
came  through  the  window  of  the  room 
where  she  and  her  mother  slept,  Bessie 
awoke  suddenly,  and  before  she  knew  it 
she  was  sitting  up  in  bed,  drowsily  rub- 
bing her  eyes.  She  had  borne  so  well 
on  her  mind  the  appointment  with  the 
farmer,  that  she  had  awakened  long  be- 
fore her  usual  time.  She  was  a  lazy 
girl  generally,  and  liked  very  much  to 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  51 

lie  luxuriously  in  bed  and  think  about 
getting  up,  without  making  an  effort  to 
do  so.  It  was  at  least  three  hours  ear- 
lier than  it  was  her  habit  to  rise,  yet 
she  did  not  stop  to  think  of  that,  but 
bounded  out  and  began  her  morning's 
ablution  ;  her  mother  having  always 
striven  to  impress  upon  her  the  great 
fact  that  "  cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness." 
It  was  but  a  short  time  when,  leaving 
her  mother,  as  she  thought,  soundly 
sleeping,  Bessie  crept  noiselessly  as  pos- 
sible down  the  stairs  that  led  to  the 
kitchen,  and  there  carefully  packed  her 
cresses  for  market.  When  the  basket 
was  full,  she  wrapped  hastily  a  shawl 
around  her,  to  protect  her  from  the 
chilly  autumn  air  of  the  morning,  and 
ran  out  to  the  gate  to  place  it,  ready 
for  the  farmer,  when  he  should  come 


52  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

along  in  his  wagon.  She  stood  on  ike 
cross  bars  of  the  gate,  and  looked  ea- 
gerly up  and  down  the  road,  but  she 
saw  nothing  as  yet.  The  thought  crossed 
her  mind  that  Mr.  Dart  might  already 
have  passed  the  house,  and  finding  no 
basket  prepared  for  him,  had  driven  on 
without  it.  But  when  she  looked  around, 
and  saw  how  early  it  still  appeared,  how 
the  gray  was  not  gone  from  the  sky, 
and  the  sun  had  not  risen,  nor  the  soft 
white  morning  mists  yet  rolled  away 
from  the  mountains  that  lay  to  the  left 
of  the  village,  she  was  quite  sure  that 
she  was  not  too  late.  She  went  back 
to  the  open  door  sill  of  the  kitchen, 
which,  being  built  in  a  small  wing, 
fronted  on  the  road,  and  sat  down  qui- 
etly on  the  sill.  Presently  she  thought 
she  heard  the  rattle  of  wheels,  and  the 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  53 

snapping  of  a  whip.  She  ran  to  the 
gate,  and  looked  in  the  direction  from 
which  it  was  to  be  expected  the  farmer 
would  come,  and  there  he  was,  seated 
on  top  of  a  load  of  turnips,  trotting 
down  the  road  as  fast  as  old  Dobbin 
could  go,  under  the  circumstances.  He 
saw  Bessie,  and  shook  his  whip  over 
his  head  as  a  sort  of  salutation. 

"  Good  morning,"  said  Bessie,  as  soon 
as  he  was  near  enough  to  hear  her 
voice. 

"Good  morning,"  replied  the  farmer, 
holding  Dobbin  up,  so  as  to  stop.  "  Well 
now,  this  lo'oks  something  like!  I  guess 
you're  most  as  smart  as  my  Dolly,  who 
got  up  and  fixed  breakfast  before  I 
started.  What  does  mother  say  about 
the  water-cresses,  eh  ?  " 

"All  right,  sir,"  cried   Bessie,  joyfully, 


54  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

lugging  into  view  the  basket,  "and  here 
they  are,  sir,  all  ready,  —  beauties,  every 
one  of  'em." 

The  farmer  raised  the  cover,  looked 
in,  and  whistled. 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "this  is  the  pick  of 
the  whole  lot,  I  guess.  But  you  haven't 
half  big  enough  a  basket.  You  must 
send  more  next  time,  for  the  frost  may 
come  and  nip  them  a  little,  before  you 
sell  enough  to  be  worth  your  while. 
Haven't  you  ever  heard  of  making  hay 
while  the  sun  shines,  Bessie  ?  " 

He  took  the  basket  and  packed  it 
nicely  among  the  turnips,  so  that  it 
would  not  jostle  out  with  the  move- 
ment of  the  wagon.  As  he  did  so,  Bes- 
sie's mother,  with  a  shawl  hastily  thrown 
around  her,  opened  the  window  of  her 
bedroom,  and  said  sufficiently  loud  to 
be  heard, 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  55 

"  Good  morning,  sir ;  I  am  afraid  you 
are  putting  yourself  to  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  for  us." 

"Not  at  all,  ma'am,"  said  the  farmer, 
quite  surprised  at  her  sudden  apparition, 
and  taking  off  his  hat  as  he  spoke ;  "  on 
the  contrary,  it's  quite  a  pleasure." 

"I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you,  I 
am  sure,"  said  the  widow,  "and  Bessie 
is  too.  It  is  very  kind  of  you  to  help 
us,  poor  people  as  we  are,  along  in  the 
world." 

"Well,  ma'am,"  said  the  farmer  with 
a  smile,  "as  far  as  that  goes,  I'm  poor 
myself — poor  enough,  dear  knows,  and 
that's  the  very  thing  that  sometimes 
makes  me  feel  for  other  poor  folks,  par- 
ticularly poor  sick  folks,  for  we  'most 
always  have  a  spell  of  the  nager  at  our 
house.  But  I  must  be  off.  I'll  stop, 


56  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

ma'am,  as  I  come  back,  about  noon,  to 
tell  you  what  luck  I  have  had  with 
these  ere  cresses." 

He  was  just  going  to  drive  on  when 
Bessie  said,  "  Oh,  sir,  I  almost  forgot. 
Is  to-day  Dolly's  well  day?  Nelly  and 
I  thought  of  going  nutting  with  her." 

"  Yes,"  .  replied  the  farmer,  "  Doll  is 
pretty  smart  to-day.  Make  no  doubt 
she  can  go.  Good  morning,  ma'am,  good 
morning,  Bessie;"  and  he  touched  up 
old  Dobbin  and  trotted  down  the  hill. 

Bessie  stood  with  the  shawl  over  her 
head  to  watch  the  wagon  as  it  seemed 
to  grow  less  and  less  in  size,  and  finally 
was  hid  by  a  curve  of  the  road.  Then 
she  pulled  to  the  gate  to  keep  out  stray 
cows  from  the  little  garden  which  her 
mother  prized  so  much,  and  reentered 
the  kitchen. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  57 

She  had  a  great  many  things  to 
accomplish  during  the  morning,  because 
now  that  her  mother  was  sick  a  number 
of  household  duties  devolved  upon  her, 
with  which  she  had  nothing  to  do  under 
ordinary  circumstances.  But,  keep  her- 
self as  busy  as  she  could,  the  time  still 
hung  heavily.  It  seemed  to  her  as  if 
noon  would  never  come.  Her  mother 
tried  to  hear  her  say  her  lessons  in  the 
intervals,  when  she  had  to  sit  up,  but 
Bessie  could  not  attend  enough  to  repeat 
them  well.  She  made  many  strange 
mistakes. 

The  top  of  every  page  in  her  spelling- 
book  was  decorated  with  a  picture  which 
illustrated  whatever  word  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  column.  Thus,  chandelier, 
work-box,  bedstead,  were  each  represented 
in  a  pretty  engraving.  I  suppose  this 


58  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

was  done  in  order  to  excite  the  interest 
of  the  scholar.  Bessie's  thoughts  to-day 
were  so  far  away  with  her  water-cresses, 
however,  that  she  could  think  of  nothing 
else.  At  the  head  of  her  column  for  the 
morning  was  the  word  ladle,  and  at  its 
side  was  the  picture  of  a  stout  servant 
girl,  ladling  out  a  plate  of  soup  from  a 
tureen.  The  shape  of  the  ladle  so  much 
resembled  a  skimmer  which  Bessie  had 
often  seen  in  use  in  her  mother's 
kitchen,  that  with  her  thoughts  follow- 
ing the  farmer  in  his  wagon,  she  spelled 
and  pronounced  in  this  wise : 

"L-a,  skim,  d-l-e,  mer,  skimmer!" 
"  My  patience,"  said  her  mother,  "  what 
nonsense  is  that,  Bessie,  which   you   are 
saying?" 

"  L-a,  skim,  d-l-e,  mer,  skimmer,"  gravely 
repeated  Bessie,  quite  unconscious  of  the 
droll  mistake. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  59 

Her  mother  could  not  but  laugh,  but 
she  asked  her  if  such  inattention  was 
kind  to  herself  when  she  was  so  ill  as 
scarcely  to  be  able  to  speak,  much  less 
to  question  over  and  over  again  a  girl 
who  did  not  care  whether  she  learned 
or  not. 

"  But  I  do  care,  mother,"  cried  Bessie, 
coloring. 

"  Then  why  do  you  try  me  so  ?  Take 
your  book  and  study  your  spelling  prop- 
erly." 

Bessie  did  so,  and  this  time,  master- 
ing her  inclination  to  think  of  other 
things,  soon  accomplished  her  task. 

"It  is  not  because  you  are  a  dull 
child,"  said  her  mother,  "that  you  do 
not  learn,  but  because  you  are  a  care- 
less one.  The  least  thing  comes  between 
you  and  your  lessons.  This  morning,  I 


60  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

suppose  you  are  somewhat  to  be  excused, 
but  I  cannot  express  to  you  how  you 
weary  me,  day  after  day,  by  the  same 
conduct." 

These  words  filled  Bessie  with  shame. 
She  really  loved  her  mother,  and  there 
were  few  things  she  would  not  have 
done  to  please  her.  She  did  not  realize 
how  simple  thoughtlessness  can  pain  and 
annoy  those  whom  we  would  not  pur- 
posely wound. 

"Well,  mother,"  said  Bessie,  casting 
down  her  eyes,  "I  do  wish  I  was  good. 
Maybe  I  am  not  big  enough  yet,  am  I, 
mother?" 

Her  mother  smiled,  saying,  "You  are 
plenty  big  enough,  and  plenty  old  enough 
too." 

Bessie  smiled  too,  and  was  happy  to 
see  that  her  mother  was  not  as  vexed 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  61 

with  her  as  she  thought.  She  went  up 
to  her  and  gave  her  a  little  shy  kiss  on 
her  cheek. 

"  It  is  such  hard  work  to  be  good," 
she  said,  "and  it  does  so  bother  me  to 
be  thinkin'  of  it  all  the  time.  Wouldn't 
it  be  nice  if  we  could  be  good  without 
any  trouble  ?  When  I  am  grown  up  I 
hope  I'll  be  good,  anyway." 

"  Oh  Bessie,"  said  her  mother,  seriously, 
"do  not  wait  till  then.  While  you  are 
young  is  the  time  to  break  yourself  of 
bad  habits  and  slothful  ways.  If  you 
wait  until  you  become  a  woman,  they 
will  have  fastened  themselves  upon  you 
so  that  you  cannot  shake  them  off." 

Just  as  Bessie's  mother*  pronounced 
the  last  words,  she  heard  a  knock  on 
one  of  the  outer  doors.  Bessie  heard 
it  too,  and  ran  down  stairs  to  open  it. 


62  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

It  was  now  nearly  time  to  expect  Mr. 
Dart,  and  her  heart  beat  with  delight 
at  the  anticipation  of  the  news  she  was 
so  soon  to  hear. 

She  opened  the  door,  and  saw,  not 
the  kind  face  of  the  farmer,  but  that 
of  a  small,  ungainly  boy,  who  lived  in 
the  next  house.  He  was  a  sickly,  spoiled 
child,  and  Bessie,  never  liking  him  much 
at  the  best  of  times,  found  him  now 
rather  an  unwelcome  visitor. 

"Our  folks  wants  to  know  if  your 
mother'll  lend  us  some  sugar,"  he  said, 
at  the  same  time  handing  out  a  cracked 
tea-cup. 

Bessie  took  the  cup  and  invited  the 
boy  to  go  up  and  see  her  mother,  while 
she  brought  the  sugar.  She  had  just 
filled  the  cup  even  full,  when  again  she 
heard  a  knock.  This  time  she  felt  sure 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  63 

it  was  the  farmer,  and  indeed  when  she 
flew  to  the  door,  there  he  stood,  smiling 
at  her  in  the  porch.  One  of  his  hands 
was  extended  towards  her,  and  in  its 
palm  she  saw  three  bright  silver  coins! 

"  Take  them,  Bessie,"  he  said,  "  they 
are  your  own.  Them  cresses  o'  your'n 
were  the  best  in  market.  I'm  coming 
along  to-morrow  morning  at  the  same 
time,  and  if  you  like,  you  can  have 
another  lot  for  me.  Here's  your  bas- 
ket, but  it  isn't  half  big  enough,  as  I 
told  you  before." 

Bessie  stood  holding  the  money  in 
her  hands,  quite  unable  to  utter  a  word. 
Her  first  thought  was  to  dash  up  stairs 
and  tell  her  mother,  her  next  to  run 
after  the  farmer  and  thank  him.  But 
he  had  already  mounted  into  his  seat  and 
Dobbin,  very  glad  to  know  that  his  nose 


64  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

was  turned  homeward,  had  taken  the 
hint  to  start  off  at  a  pace  that  soon 
placed  his  driver  out  of  hearing. 

"I  am  so  sorry,"  said  Bessie,  gazing 
after  the  wagon  in  much  the  same  way 
as  she  had  done  in  the  morning.  "  Mother 
will  say  I  forgot  my  politeness  that  time. 
And  he  so  kind  too!" 

She  ran  in  the  house  again,  and  in  a 
moment  was  in  her  mother's  room. 

"  Mother,  mother,"  she  cried,  holding 
out  the  coins,  "you  can  have  every 
thing  you  want  now !  See,  here's  money, 
plenty  of  it !  I  don't  believe  I  ever  saw 
so  much  at  once  in  all  my  life.  How 
many  goodies  you  shall  have  to  make 
you  well ! " 

Her  mother  was  lying  partially  dressed 
outside  the  bed-quilts,  but  she  rose  up 
slowly  to  share  Bessie's  joy.  Bessie  put 
the  money  in  her  hands  and  danced 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  65 

around  the  room  like  a  wild  girl,  utterly 
regardless  of  the  fire-tongs  that  she 
whirled  out  of  place,  and  a  couple  of 
chairs,  which  she  laid  very  neatly  flat 
on  their  sides  in  the  middle  of  the  floor. 
Then  she  flew  at  her  mother  and  gave 
her  two  monstrous,  sounding  kisses  on 
each  cheek.  Her  mother  gave  them 
right  straight  back  to  her,  and  I  can 
assure  you  Bessie  wasn't  at  all  sorry  to 
have  them  returned. 

"Why,  Bessie,"  said  the  little  boy, 
who  had  been  a  silent  spectator  all  this 
time,  "what  is  the  matter  with  you? 
You  act  real  crazy." 

"I  am  crazy,"  said  Bessie,  good-hu- 
moredly,  "just  as  crazy  as  can  be.  This 
is  my  water-cress  money.  Didn't  you 
know  I  can  earn  money  for  mother? 
How  much  is  there,  mother?" 

5 


66  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

The  widow  spread  out  the  three  coins 
in  her  hand,  and  after  a  moment's  pause, 
said, 

"Here  are  two  twenty-five  cent  pieces, 
and  a  ten  cent  piece;  that  makes  just 
sixty  cents." 

Bessie  sat  perfectly  still,  and  when 
her  mother  looked  at  her,  attracted  by 
an  unusual  sound,  she  had  her  apron 
up  to  her  eyes,  crying  as  peacefully  as 
possible. 

"Why,  my  foolish  little  girl,"  said  her 
mother,  "  I  can't  have  any  tears  shed  in 
this  way.  Jump  up  like  a  good  child 
and  get  Nathan  his  sugar." 

"  I  couldn't  help  it,"  sobbed  Bessie,  "  I 
didn't  know  I  was  agoin'  to  till  I  did." 

"  What  are  you  thinking  of  doing 
with  it  all  ? "  asked  Nathan,  eyeing  the 
money  with  some  curiosity. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  67 

"  Save  it,"  answered  Bessie,  promptly, 
"till  mother  gets  ready  to  use  it"  She 
went  to  a  table  standing  at  the  head 
of  the  bed,  and  from  its  drawer  she  took 
out  a  large-sized  Madeira  nut,  that  had 
been  given  to  her  by  her  uncle  the 
previous  Christmas.  The  two  halves 
were  joined  together  by  a  steel  hinge, 
and  when  a  small  spring  was  touched 
on  the  opposite  side,  they  opened.  Bes- 
sie touched  it  now,  and  advancing  to 
her  mother,  said, 

"Let's  keep  the  money  in  this  nut, 
mother,  for  a  purse,  until  you  want  to 
spend  it." 

Her  mother  dropped  the  silver  in  the 
open  shell,  and  Bessie  closed  it  and 
replaced  it  in  the  drawer.  Then  she 
and  Nathan  went  down  to  get  the 
sugar. 


68  LITTLE   BESSIE. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HUNGRY   FISHES. 

IT  was  aoout  two  o'clock  when  Bessie, 
basket  in  hand,  started  to  go  on  the 
nutting  excursion  which  Nelly  and  Mar- 
tin had  planned  for  that  day. 

She  scarcely  liked  to  be  absent  long, 
for  she  knew  her  mother  was  not  quite 
as  well  as  usual,  and  then,  too,  the 
water-cresses  were  to  be  gathered  and 
prepared  for  the  next  day's  market. 
At  all  events  she  made  up  her  mind  to 
get  home  early,  long  before  the  sun 
should  set. 

It  was  but  a  short  walk  of  a  half 
mile  to  Nelly's  home;  Martin  and  Nelly 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  69 

were  ready,  so  that  no  time  was  con- 
sumed in  waiting. 

It  was  even  a  more  beautiful  day 
than  the  one  on  which  the  previous 
nutting  had  taken  place.  The  woods 
were  brighter  colored  than  ever,  and 
the  golden  autumn  mist  seemed  to  cover 
every  thing  with  beauty.  It  hung  in 
wreaths  around  the  tops  of  the  high 
trees,  and  swayed  softly  back  and  forth 
when  the  breeze  stirred  it.  The  boats 
on  the  river  could  scarcely  be  discerned 
through  it,  and  the  opposite  shores  were 
entirely  hidden. 

"This  is  Dolly's  ivell  day,"  said  Bessie, 
"I  asked  her  father  and  he  told  me  so." 

"Martin  says  you  are  going  to  sell 
him  some  water-cresses,"  said  Nelly;  "at 
least,  I  suppose  he  was  the  one;  did 
you?" 


70  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"Yes,"  said  Bessie;  "that  is,  lie  sold 
them  for  me,  which  is  the  same  thing 
you  know.  He  brought  me  three  Ug 
pieces  of  money  for  them  at  noon,  and 
I  put  'em  in  a  nut-shell  and  shut  'em 
up." 

"A  nut-shell?"  repeated  Martin,  "that 
is  a  funny  bank,  I  think." 

"It's  a  safe  one,"  said  Bessie,  "and  it 
will  not  break  and  keep  the  money  like 
some  of  those  I  have  heard  of  in  town. 
Just  look  at  those  bitter-sweets,  Nell, 
aren't  they  bright?" 

"I  mean  to  get  some,"  cried  Nelly,  as 
she  paused  to  admire  the  red  sprays  of 
the  berries  that  grew  at  the  side  of  the 
short-cut  path  they  were  pursuing.  "I 
will  take  them  home  to  mother  to  put 
in  her  winter  bouquets  of  dried  grasses, 
that  stand  on  the  parlor  mantle-shelf. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  71 

They  will  enliven  them  and  make  them 
much  handsomer." 

"  Why  not  wait  till  we  return  ? "  said 
Martin;  "you  will  have  all  the  trouble 
of  carrying  them  to  the  woods  and  back 
again,  and  perhaps  lose  them  by  the 
way." 

"  I  know  too  much  for  that,"  said  Nelly, 
laughing;  "we  may  not  come  back  by 
this  road,  and  then  I  should  not  get 
them  at  all.  Last  week  I  lost  some  in 
the  same  way:  I  went  out  walking  with 
Miss  Milly  over  the  mountains,  and  we 
came  to  some  beauties  near  Mulligan's 
little  shanty.  We  thought  to  save  our- 
selves trouble  by  leaving  them  till  we 
returned.  Something  or  other  tempted 
us  to  strike  into  another  path  when  we 
came  back,  so  that  our  bitter-sweets  are 
on  the  top  of  the  mountain  yet." 


72  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"No,"  said  Bessie,  "I  don't  think  they 
are.  Did  they  grow  over  a  big  rock, 
and  were  there  plenty  of  sumach  bushes 
between  them  and  the  path?" 

"Yes,"  said  -Nelly,  beginning  to  pull 
down  the  rich  clusters  of  the  bitter- 
sweets,  and  breaking  them  off,  one  by 
one. 

"Well,"  said  Bessie,  making  a  deep, 
mock  courtesy,  "I  have  the  pleasure  of 
having  those  berries  in  my  own  bed- 
room at  this  blessed  minute.  I  went  to 
Mulligan's  on  an  errand  of  mother's,  a 
few  days  ago,  an,d  I  brought  them  down 
the  mountain  with  me." 

"Her  loss  was  your  gain,  wasn't  it?" 
said  Martin,  as  he  aided  Nelly  to  gather 
the  berries. 

"I'll  help  too,"  said  Bessie,  "for  I'm 
in  a  dreadful  hurry  to  get  back,  Nelly. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  73 

I  have  all  my  cresses  to  pick  for  market," 
and  she  too  broke  off  the  bunches  and 
laid  them  carefully  in  Nelly's  basket. 

"  What !  "  said  Nelly,  "  more  cresses, 
Bessie  ? " 

"Yes,"  said  Bessie,  giving  a  joyful 
hop,  and,  as  her  mother  called  it,  cutting 
a  caper;  "and  that  isn't  all,  for  Dolly's 
father  wants  lots  arid  lots  and  lots  more 
of  'em  !  Come,  I  guess  you  have  plenty 
now,  let's  go  on." 

Nelly  consented  to  do  so,  but  first 
Martin  took  out  of  his  pocket  a  handful 
of  tangled  twine,  and  with  a  piece  of  it 
tied  the  bitter-sweet  berries  together  by 
the  stems,  and  suspended  them  in  a 
bunch  from  her  apron  strings,  so  that 
her  basket  might  be  ready  for  the  nuts. 

Martin  was  a  farm  boy  who  worked 
at  Nelly's  father's  place.  He  was  a  good, 


74  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

steady  lad,  and  the  two  girls  liked  very 
much  to  have  his  company  in  their 
excursions.  It  was  not  often,  however, 
that  he  could  be  spared,  and  the  present 
occasion  was,  therefore,  quite  a  holiday 
in  his  estimation. 

When  the  children  reached  the  little 
house  near  the  wood,  they  were  surprised 
to  see  Dolly  standing  in  the  gateway 
quite  equipped  for  the  ramble.  She 
had  a  large*  basket  on  her  arm,  and  a 
long  hickory  stick  in  her  hands.  Nelly 
introduced  Martin,  who  stood  a  little 
aloof  when  the  girls  first  met,  and  then 
Dolly  asked  them  if  they  would  not  all 
come  in  and  rest,  but  the  children 
thought  that  it  was  best  not  to  do  so. 
Hearing  voices,  the  farmer  came  to  the 
door  of  the  farm  house  to  see  them  off. 
He  looked  pleased  to  find  Dolly  with 
the  little  girls. 


-• 


••  Martin  told  the  girls  that  if  they  would  place  themselves  with  him  on  an  old 
trunk  of  a  tree,  they  would  probably  find  it  to  he  a  better  position  from  which  to 
t'lnv.r  their  lines. "  —  p.  93. 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  75 

"That's  right,"  he  said,  "I'm  glad  to 
have  my  Dolly  tramping  about  like 
other  folks'  children.  It  will  do  her 
good.  But  don't  stay  late :  the  damp 
of  the  evening  is  very  unwholesome  for 
the  nager." 

"Oh,  we  are  coming  back  long  before 
night,  sir,"  said  Bessie,  cheerfully,  "  'cause 
I've  got  all  my  cresses  to  pick  for  to-mor- 
row. -Mother  and  I  are  so  much  obliged 
to  you,  I  can't  really  tell  how  much ! " 

"  Quite  welcome,  quite  welcome,"  said 
Mr.  Dart;  "I'll  be  on  the  look-out  for 
another  basket  to-morrow  then." 

As  the  four  children  walked  briskly 
along  the  path  through  the  woods,  Nelly 
looked  with  some  curiosity  at  Dolly's 
stick.  She  could  not  imagine  for  what 
purpose  it  was  intended.  It  was  not 
very  stout,  nor  apparently  very  heavy; 


76  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

at  the  upper  end  it  was  a  little  curved. 
Dolly  seemed  to  use  it  for  a  staff,  and 
several  times  helped  herself  over  some 
rough  and  stony  places  with  it.  When 
the  walking  was  good  she  carried  it 
carelessly  over  her  shoulder,  with  her 
basket  swinging  at  the  crooked  end. 

A  short  time  brought  the  party  to 
the  place  where  they  had  found  so  many 
nuts  only  a  day  or  two  before.  'Much 
to  their  surprise  and  mortification  the 
trees  which  were  lately  so  loaded,  were 
now  perfectly  bare.  Some  one  had 
evidently  been  there  during  the  time 
that  intervened,  and  had  carried  away 
the  prize.  There  were  several  large 
piles  of  the  outer  shells  scattered  about 
on  the  ground,  but  that  was  all. 

"What  shall  we  do,"  asked  Bessie, 
mournfully;  "I  don't  think  we  can  find 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  77 

another  such  spot  as  this  was  in  the 
whole  woods.  This  clump  of  trees  was 
as  full  as  it  could  be  only  the  day 
before  yesterday." 

Dolly  took  her  stick  and  poked  among 
the  branches  to  see  if  any  remained. 
She  found  about  half  a  dozen,  which 
she  knocked  down  and  put  in  her  bas- 
ket. 

"Now  I  know,"  said  Nelly,  "what 
Dolly  brought  that  pole  for,  —  to  knock 
down  the  nuts." 

"Yes,"  said  Dolly,  surveying  the  stick 
in  question  with  some  pride,  "it  is 
splendid  for  that.  I  call  it  my  cherry- 
tree  hook,  and  I  use  it  in  cherry  time 
to  pull  the  branches  towards  me.  But 
come,  we  must  push  on  and  seek  our 
fortunes.  Haven't  an  idee  of  goin'  home 
without  my  basket  full." 


78  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"I  give  up,  for  one,"  said  Bessie, 
despondently,  "I  don't  think  we  can 
find  a  thick  place  again." 

"Never  mind,  Bessie,"  said  Martin, 
with  good-nature,  "we'll  find  a  thin  one 
then.  We'll  do  the  best  we  can,  you 
may  be  sure.  Come,  girls,  I'll  lead  the 
way.  Let  us  follow  this  little  footpath 
and  see  where  it  will  take  us." 

He  spoke  in  an  encouraging  tone,  and 
suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  walked 
on  ahead.  The  girls  followed  him  in 
silence.  The  underbrush  through  which 
the  path  led  was  very  thick  and  high, 
and  for  a  short  distance  nothing  could 
be  discerned  on  either  side.  The  thorns 
caught  into  the  clothing  of  the  little 
party,  and  they  found  this  by  no  means 
an  added  pleasure.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  the  track  broadened 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  79 

into  a  wide,  open  space,  something 
similar  to  the  one  they  had  just  quitted, 
dotted  here  and  there  with  trees,  but, 
as  fortune  would  have  it,  none  of  them 
wrere  nut  trees.  They  were  on  the  point 
of  penetrating  still  further  towards  the 
heart  of  the  wood,  when  a  loud  rustling 
among  the  dead  branches  and  dried 
leaves  of  the  path  made  the  children 
turn  to  discover  what  was  the  matter. 

A  joyful  barking  followed,  and  a 
rough-looking  dog  bounded  out,  and  be- 
gan prancing  about  and  leaping  upon 
Dolly. 

"Oh,  it's  only  our  old  Tiger,"  she 
exclaimed;  "down,  Tige,  down,  sir!" 

But  Tiger  was  so  delighted  at  having 
succeeded  in  finding  his  young  mistress, 
that  he  did  not  cease  indulging  in  his 
various  uncouth  gambols,  until  Dolly, 


80  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

stamping  her  foot  and  assuming  an  air 
of  great  severity,  bade  him  be  quiet,  or 
she  would  send  him  immediately  home. 
Tiger  seemed  to  understand  the  threat, 
for  he  stopped  barking  and  instantly 
darted  several  hundred  feet  in  advance 
of  the  party. 

"He  does  that  so  that  I  cannot  make 
him  go  back,"  cried  Dolly,  laughing  at 
the  sagacity  of  her  favorite ;  "  I  never 
tell  him  I  will  send  him  home,  but  that 
he  runs  ahead  so  as  to  make  it  impos- 
sible for  me  to  do  as  I  say." 

They  continued  their  wanderings  for 
some  distance  further,  but  with  very 
poor  success. 

"I'll  tell  you  what  we  can  do,"  said 
Martin,  with  a  laugh,  as  exclamations  of 
vexation  and  disappointment  were  heard 
from  the  girls ;  "let's  turn  our  nutting 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  81 

into  a  fishing  excursion.  Wouldn't  it 
be  nice  if  we  should  each  go  home  with 
a  string  of  fish?" 

"  Fish ! "  cried  Nelly,  "  what  do  you 
mean,  Martin?" 

"I  never  heard  of  anybody  catchin' 
fish  in  the  woods!"  said  Dolly.  "There 
isn't  a  drop  of  water  nearer  than  the 
pond  the  other  side  of  Morrison's  hill." 

"Well,"  said  Martin,  "I  know  there 
is  not,  but  that  is  not  so  very  far  off. 
I  was  just  thinking  of  the  shortest  way 
to  get  there." 

"I  know  every  inch  of  the  country," 
said  Dolly,  firmly,  "and  I'm  sure  Mor- 
rison's pond  is  at  least  a  good  two  mile 
from  here." 

"Oh,  we  can't  walk  that,  Martin," 
cried  Bessie ;  "  we  should  all  be  tired, 
and  get  home  after  dark  besides." 


82  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"Now,"  said  Martin,  smiling,  "I  do 
not  wish  to  contradict  anybody,  but  I 
am  acquainted  with  a  path,  a  rather 
rough  one  to  be  sure,  that  will  bring  us, 
in  about  twenty  minutes,  to  the  edge 
of  the  pond.  You  know  it  is  not  as 
far  away  as  people  think,  the  crooked, 
winding  road  making  it  appear  a  long 
way  oflj  when  in  reality  it  lies  in  a 
straight  line  only  about  half  a  mile 
from  the  village." 

"But  if  we  conclude  to  go,  we  can't 
fish"  said  Dolly. 

"Why  not?"  quietly  asked  Martin. 

"We  haven't  a  line  or  a  hook  among 
us,"  put  forth  Nelly,  "at  least  I  am  sure 
/  haven't." 

"Well  /  have,"  replied  Martin,  "pro- 
vided you  will  not  despise  bent  pins  for 
hooks,  pieces  of  the  twine  that  is  left 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  83 

of  that  I  tied  your  bitter-sweet  berries" 
with  for  lines,  a  hickory  stick  like  Dolly's 
for  a  rod,  and  earth  worms  for  bait. 
There  now,  haven't  I  furnished  the 
whole  party  with  tackle  ?  Come,  don't 
let  us  go  home  without  having  something 
to  take  with  us." 

Dolly  sat  down  on  the  stump  of  a 
tree  and  began  to  laugh. 

"The  idee,"  she  said,  "of  going  nut- 
ting and  bringing  home  fish.  Well,  I'm 
willing,  for  one,  if  it's  only  to  find  out 
the  path.  I  thought  I  knew  all  the 
ins  and  outs  around  here." 

"And  I'd  like  to  go  too,"  said  Nelly. 

"I  should  like  to  go  well  enough," 
added  Bessie,  "if  it  wasn't  that  I  feel 
sure  the  extra  walk  will  just  bring  me 
home  too  late  for  my  cresses.  Mother 
is  sick,  too,  and  she  cannot  be  left  alone 


84  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

very  long;  and  Dolly,  you  know  your 
father  said  you  must  not  stay  out  late." 

"Yes,"  said  Dolly,  "I  know  he  did, 
and  I  don't  mean  to  disobey,  but  it 
can't  be  very  late  yet ;  I  should  think 
not  more  than  half  past  three." 

Martin  looked  up  at  the  sun  and  then 
down  to  the  shadows  on  the  ground. 

"No,"  said  he,  "it  is  not  more  than 
half  past  three.  I  am  in  the  habit  of 
telling  time  by  the  sun,  and  I  know 
it  is  not  later  than  that  Come,  Bessie, 
three  to  one  is  the  way  the  case  stands. 
I  guess  you  will  be  home  time  enough." 

Bessie  stood  irresolute.  She  wished 
to  go  fishing,  and  she  wished  to  return 
home.  It  was  hard  to  choose.  At  last 
she  said, 

"  It  will  be  four  at  least  when  I  get 
back.  I  must  go." 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  85 

"Then  you  break  up  the  party," 
said  Nelly,  in  a  dissatisfied  tone. 

"And  you  spoil  the  pleasure,"  added 
Dolly,  leaning  on  her  stick  and  looking 
at  Bessie. 

"And  you  send  us  all  home  with 
empty  baskets  when  we  might  each 
have  a  string  of  fish,"  continued  Martin. 
"Do  stay!" 

The  children  surrounded  Bessie,  and 
tried  to  persuade  her.  At  length  she 
ceased  to  resist.  She  endeavored  to 
assure  herself  that  she  was  acting  right, 
but  she  felt  uneasy  as  she  did  so,  and 
the  picture  of  her  mother,  lying  so  long 
alone  in  her  sick  room,  rose  up  to  her 
mind.  Still  the  temptation  was  before 
her,  and  she  yielded  to  it.  The  truth 
was,  that  Bessie  had  great  confidence  in 
Martin,  and  when  he  said  that  he  thought 


86  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

there  was  plenty  of  time,  she  reasoned 
with  herself  that  he  was  a  great  deal 
older  than  she  was,  and  probably  knew 
best;  so  she  consented  to  join  the  fish- 
ing party.  The  moment  she  said  "yes," 
Martin  exclaimed, 

"  This  way  then ;  follow  me,  all  of 
you,  and  we  will  soon  reach  the  short- 
cut track.  It  is  about  here  somewhere. 
Let  us  hurry  so  as  to  lose  no  time." 

The  path  was  speedily  found  as  he 
had  said,  and  the  children  walked  as 
rapidly  after  him  as  the  rough  stones 
which  lay  in  the  way,  and  the  project- 
ing branches  of  blackberry  bushes  would 
permit. 

When  they  reached  the  pond,  Martin 
took  out  the  pocket  knife  which  he 
usually  carried  about  him,  and  cut  down 
four  slender  young  trees  which  he  found 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  87 

growing  between  the  pond  and  the  pub- 
lic wagon-road  at  its  side.  He  gave 
these  to  Nelly  and  asked  her  if  she 
would  tie  the  strings  securely  fast  to 
the  smallest  ends,  while  he  and  Bessie 
overturned  stones  in  search  of  worms, 
and  Dolly  bent  the  points  of  the  pins 
so  as  to  resemble  hooks. 

"  Why  will  not  my  staff  do  for  a 
pole  ? "  asked  Dolly,  as  she  hammered 
at  the  pins  with  a  large  pebble;  "you 
said  it  would,  Martin." 

"That  was  before  I  saw  these  little 
trees,"  replied  Martin.  "The  moment 
I  came  upon  them,  growing  here  in  a 
group  among  the  bushes,  I  knew  they 
were  just  the  things  I  wanted.  They 
are  thin  and  tapering,  and  your  stick 
is  not." 

"What   difference    does    that   make?" 


88  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

said  Dolly;  "a  pole  is  only  for  the 
purpose  of  casting  the  line  out  a  good 
distance  into  the  water,  isn't  it?" 

"That  is  one  use  for  it,"  said  Martin, 
"but  not  all.  If  a  pole  is  properly 
proportioned,  that  is,  if  it  is  the  right 
size  at  the  handle,  and  tapers  gradually 
to  the  point,  the  fisherman  can  feel  the 
least  nibble,  and  know  the  exact  moment 
when  to  draw  up  the  line.  If  he  could 
not  feel  the  movement,  the  fish  might, 
in  the  struggles  occasioned  by  his  pain, 
carry  off  bait  and  hook  too." 

"In  our  case  that  wouldn't  be  a  great 
loss,"  laughed  Dolly,  and  she  held  up 
the  pins,  neatly  bent  into  shape. 

"Martin,"  said  Bessie,  in  a  low  voice, 
as  she  stooped  to  raise  a  stone  at  his 
side,  "I  guess  I  don't  care  to  fish,  after 
all." 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  89 

Martin  saw  something  was  amiss.  In- 
stead of  giving  utterance  to  a  rude 
exclamation,  or  calling  the  attention  of 
the  others,  he  said  in  a  kind  tone, 

"  Why,  Bessie,  what  is  the  matter  now  ? 
Don't  you  feel  right? 

Bessie  shook  her  head.  Martin  saw 
there  were  tears  in  her  eyes. 

"  I  am  sorry  I  coaxed  you,"  he  said. 
"I  feel  now  as  if  I  had  not  behaved  as 
I  ought." 

"  I  never  did  like  to  go  fishing,"  said 
Bessie ;  "  it  hurts  me  to  see  the  poor  little 
things  pant  and  flounder  when  they  are 
brought  up.  The  moment  I  heard  you 
speak  of  their  struggling  with  the  pain, 
I  was  sorrier  than  ever  that  I  had  come, 
and  that  made  me  think  of  mother, 
staying  home  alone  with  her  pain.  I  do 
believe  I  ought  to  go  back  at  once." 


90  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"  But  you  cannot  find  the  way,"  said 
Martin ;  "  you  have  never  been  here 
before." 

"That  is  true/'  said  Bessie,  sighing. 
"Well,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  a  spoil- 
pleasure.  Don't  mind  me,  then,  but  you 
and  the  others  begin  your  fishing,  and 
if  I  see  a  wagon  come  by  on  the  road 
that  is  going  our  way,  I  can  jump  in. 
I  need  not  stop  your  sport  if  I  do  that." 

Martin  looked  perplexed. 

"I  hardly  like  you  to  try  it,"  he  said, 
"and  yet  I  do  not  wish  you  to  stay 
against  your  will." 

"Well,"  said  Bessie,  "I  don't  like  to 
act  mean,  Martin.  Go  on  fishing  for  a 
little  while,  at  all  events.  I  can  wait 
half  an  hour  or  so,  I  suppose." 

Nelly  now  called  to  Martin  that  the 
lines  were  ready,  for  Dolly  had  just 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  91 

finished  tying  on  the  last  pin.  He 
gathered  up  the  bait  he  had  found 
beneath  the  stones,  and  went  towards 
the  two  other  girls.  He  thought,  on 
consideration,  that  he  might  fish  for  a 
short  time,  while  waiting  to  see  if  a 
wagon  approached  on  the  road.  If  none 
did  so  within  the  allotted  half  hour,  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  go  home.  He 
blamed  himself  now  for  having  changed 
the  destination  of  the  party. 

"Here's  my  line,"  cried  Dolly,  holding 
it  out  at  the  end  of  her  pole,  "and  now 
all  that  I  and  the  fishes  wait  for  is  a 
worm." 

Martin  fastened  one  on  Dolly's  pin, 
one  on  Nelly's  likewise,  and  one  on  the 
line  he  intended  for  himself. 

"  Come,  Bessie/  said  Nelly,  as  she 
flung  her  line  into  the  water,  "come 
try  your  luck." 


92  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"Bessie  does  not  care  about  fishing," 
said  Martin  kindly,  "do  not  press  her 
if  she  does  not  wish  it." 

The  pond  was  well  stocked  with  a 
variety  of  small  fishes,  many  of  which 
were  considered  good  eating  by  the  farm- 
ers in  the  neighborhood.  As  scarcely  any 
one  ever  took  the  trouble,  however,  to 
go  after  them,  they  were  hardly  ac- 
quainted with  hooks  or  lines,  and  they 
were,  consequently,  all  the  more  easily 
caught.  Martin  said  he  had  never  seen 
such  hungry  fishes  before.  They  snapped 
at  the  bait  the  moment  it  was  lowered 
to  them,  oftentimes  carrying  it  entirely 
off,  hook  and  all. 

Once,  and  the  children  could  scarcely 
believe  it  when  they  saw  it,  a  fish  called 
a  bull-head  leaped  at  least  an  inch  above 
the  water  and  tried  to  swallow  the  end 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  93 

of  Dolly's  line,  which  she  was  in  the 
act  of  raising,  to  replace  the  pin  and 
worm  which  some  of  his  greedy  kindred 
had  just  taken  away. 

Martin  told  the  girls  that  if  they 
would  place  themselves,  with  him.  on 
an  old  trunk  of  a  tree  that  apparently 
had  fallen  years  before  into  the  edge  of 
the  pond,  they  would  probably  find  it 
to  be  a  better  position  from  which  to 
throw  their  lines  than  the  shore  on 
which  they  had  stood  at  first.  "For," 
said  he,  "the  larger  fish  dp  not  like  to 
venture  into  such  shallow  water."  The 
trunk,  however,  was  covered  with  moist 
moss,  which  made  it  very  slippery,  and 
Nelly  came  so  near  losing  her  balance 
and  falling  in,  as  she  walked  up  it,  that 
she  concluded  to  remain  where  she  was. 
Martin  and  Dolly  did  not  meet  with  the 


94  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

same  difficulty,  however,  and  very  soon 
they  discovered  that  the  nibbles  were 
far  more  frequent  than  before.  Martin 
kept  a  twig  on  which  he  slipped  the 
fish  as  soon  as  caught,  and  then  hung 
it  on  a  branch  of  the  moss-covered  trunk. 
Bessie  had  begun  to  look  on  the  pro- 
ceedings with  interest,  feeling  almost  as 
sorry  as  her  companions  as  a  ravenous 
bull-head  occasionally  carried  off  the 
hooks,  when  she  heard  a  noise  on  the 
road  as  of  wheels.  She  ran  to  the 
bushes  which,  divided  it  from  the  pond, 
and  putting  her  little  face  through,  saw 
that  the  miller  who  lived  in  the  village 
was  passing  with  three  or  four  large 
sacks  of  meal  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  a 
pair  of  horses.  He  was  going  the  wrong 
way,  but  the  thought  occurred  to  her 
to  stop  him  and  ask  how  long  it  would 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  95 

be  before  he  should  return,  and  if  he 
should  do  so  by  the  same  road.  The 
miller  was  a  stout,  good-natured  looking 
man,  with  an  old  hat  and  coat  as  white 
as  his  meal  bags.  He  seemed  astonished 
enough  at  seeing  Bessie's  head  pop  so 
suddenly  out  of  the  bushes  in  that  lonely 
place. 

"Why,  Bessie,"  said  he,  laughing,  "if 
I  hadn't  been  as  bold  as  a  lion,  perhaps 
I  might  have  mistaken  you  for  a  mer- 
maid that  had  just  sprung  out  of  the 
pond  to  have  a  little  private  conversation 
with  me.  Yes,  I  shall  come  back  by 
this  road.  I  have  got  to  deliver  my 
meal  at  the  first  house  on  the  left,  and 
then  I  turn  towards  home  again.  Is 
that  your  party  that  I  catch  a  glimpse 
of  on  the  pond?" 

"  Yes,"   said    Bessie,    "  they're    fishing. 


96  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

You  wouldn't  mind  giving  us  a  ride  as 
far  as  you  go,  Mr.  Watson,  would  you  ?  " 
Mr.  Watson  laughed,  and  said  no  he 
wouldn't,  and  telling  her  he  should 
return  in  fifteen  minutes,  he  drove  on. 
Bessie  hurried  back  to  the  children  and 
related  her  news.  She  was  careful  not 
to  be  so  selfish  'as  to  ask  them  to  leave 
the  pond  to  go  with  her,  but  she  told 
them  for  their  own  benefit  that  the 
miller  was  willing  to  take  the  whole 
party.  Enticing  as  the  fishing  was,  the 
two  girls  were  now  far  too  tired  to 
desire  to  walk  home  when  they  could 
ride  very  nearly  all  the  way.  Martin 
for  his  part  would  have  liked  to  remain 
longer,  but  he  saw  that  it  would  be 
ungenerous  to  refuse  to  accompany  them, 
even  if  it  had  been  early  enough  to  do 
so,  which  it  was  not,  for  already  the  day 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  97 

was  on  the  wane.  So  it  was  decided 
to  leave  the  pond. 

Martin  put  Dolly's  share  of  the  fishes 
on  a  separate  twig,  and  very  proud  she 
was  of  them.  She  said  she  should  fry 
them  for  her  father's  breakfast  the  next 
morning,  before  he  started  for  market. 
The  fishing  poles  were  left  lying  near 
the  old  tree. 

When  the  miller  drove  up  to  the 
place  where  Bessie  had  hailed  him,  he 
found  the  children  awaiting  him.  Dolly 
and  Martin,  fish  in  hand,  Nelly  carrying 
her  bitter-sweet  berries,  and  Bessie  with 
an  empty  basket,  but  a  light  heart  at 
the  thought  that  now  she  should  reach 
home  in  good  season  to  gather  the 
cresses. 

7 


98  LITTLE   BESSIE. 


CHAPTEK    V. 

LOST. 

"I  CAN'T  find  it,"  said  Bessie,  about  a 
month  after  the  fishing  party.  "I  have 
hunted  high  and  low.  I  cannot  find  it 
anywhere." 

Her  mother,  whose  health  was  now 
greatly  improving,  was  sitting  in  the 
kitchen  by  the  blazing  fire,  for  the 
weather  was  gradually  growing  colder, 
and  the  logs  were  piled  up  a  little 
higher  on  the  hearth,  day  by  day.  She 
was  busy  finishing  quilting  a  white  coun- 
terpane for  a  neighbor  who  employed 
her  frequently  to  sew  for  her  family. 
It  was  full  of  quaint  devices,  stars  and 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  99 

diamonds  forming  the  border,  while  in 
the  centre  was  a  wonderful  little  lamb 
in  the  act  of  performing  some  very 
frisky  gambols. 

•  "Cannot  find  what?"   demanded   Bes- 
sie's mother. 

"  My  Madeira  nut ! "  exclaimed  Bessie, 
in  a  tone  of  despair.  "Oh,  what  shall 
I  do  ?  what  shall  I  do  ?  " 

Her  mother  stopped  quilting  and 
turned  to  look  at  her. 

"Where  did  you  put  it  last?"  she 
asked.  "Surely,  Bessie,  you  ought  to 
remember  that." 

"I  have  never  put  it  in  but  one  spot," 
replied  Bessie;  "I  left  it  in  the  drawer 
of  my  little  table.  When  you  grew 
better,  and  the  table  wasn't  needed  any 
more  in  your  bedroom  for  you  to  stand 
your  medicines  on,  I  got  Nathan  to  help 


100  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

me  take  it  up  stairs  in  the  garret,  just 
as  you  bade  me,  that  day  last  week 
when  he  was  here  spending  the  after- 
noon. I  thought  I  would  still  keep  the 
nut  there,  for  I  had  grown  used  to  the 
place,  and  I  liked  to  go  to  the  drawer 
and  pull  it  out  to  look  at  it  sometimes. 
Oh  dear,  oh  dear!"  and  Bessie  burst 
into  tears. 

"Perhaps  you  haven't  searched  well," 
said  her  mother;  "come,  I'll  go  up  stairs 
with  you.  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  had 
got  caught  in  the  top  of  the  drawer. 
I  have  heard  of  such  things.  I  lost  a 
handkerchief  that  way  myself  once." 

"But,"  sobbed  Bessie,  "it  couldn't  get 
caught  like  that  without  being  broken, 
because  it  was  so  thin  shelled,  and  then 
I  should  have  seen  some  of  the  pieces; 
or  the  money  would  have  fallen  back 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  101 

into  the  drawer,  and  I  would  have  found 
that" 

"How  much  was  in  it?"  asked  her 
mother.  "There  could  not  have  been 
a  great  deal  more  than  the  very  first 
silver  Mr.  Dart  brought  you  for  the 
cresses,  for  the  rest  we  have  spent  from 
time  to  time  as  fast  as  it  was  received. 
I  was  sorry  enough  to  do  it  too." 

"I  wasn't,"  said  Bessie,  brightening 
up  a  little  through  her  tears,  "I  was 
glad  and  thankful,  mother,  to  have  it 
to  spend.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the 
cresses,  what  would  have  become  of  us 
all  the  while  you  were  so  sick?" 

"  God  always  provides  for  the  poor 
and  needy,"  said  her  mother  gravely, 
"and  I  am  certain  that  He  who  knows 
even  when  sparrows  fall  would  not  let 
us  suffer.  If  this  help  had  not  sprung 


102  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

up  for  us  through  Mr.  Dart,  something 
else  would  have  presented  itself.  Come, 
now,  let  us  go  to  the  garret  and  look 
for  the  money." 

Bessie  darted  ahead  of  her  mother 
as  they  went  up  the  stairs,  with  a  bound 
and  a  spring  that  brought  her  to  the 
head  of  the  flight  when  her  mother  was 
on  the  second  step.  She  was  young  and 
agile,  and  besides  she  was  greatly  excited 
and  in  haste  to  begin  the  search.  She 
did  not  gain  any  thing  by  her  speed, 
however,  for  she  had  to  wait  at  the 
landing  until  her  mother  had  toiled 
slowly  up. 

"Now  let  us  look  at  the  drawer," 
said  her  mother,  when,  after  pausing  a 
moment  to  breathe,  she  moved  towards 
the  table.  It  was  a  poor  little  shaky 
thing,  and  of  a  very  dilapidated  appear- 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  103 

ance.  It  was  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  as  soon  as  her  recovery  made  its 
presence  unnecessary  in  her  room,  she 
had  banished  it  to  the  garret  whence 
it  had  been  brought. 

"  You  see  there  is  no  trace  of  it,"  said 
Bessie,  mournfully,  as  she  watched  her 
mother  remove  the  articles  the  drawer 
contained  one  by  one. 

No,  it  was  not  there  indeed. 

Bessie  pulled  out  the  drawer,  and  even 
took  the  trouble  to  examine  the  aper- 
ture which  contained  it,  but  all  was  in 
vain. 

"It  is  certainly  very  strange,"  said 
her  mother.  "I  do  not  see  how,  if  it 
were  really  in  this  drawer,  it  could  have 
got  out  without  help." 

"Nor  I  either,"  added  Bessie,  half 
laughing  at  the  idea  of  a  nut  walking 


104  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

off  of  itself.  "  Oh,  if  I  could  only  find 
it!  I  do  not  mind  the  nut  so  much, 
although  dear  uncle  James  gave  it  to 
me  last  Christmas,  as  I  do  the  money, 
for  you  know,  mother,  I  asked  you  if 
I  might  not  keep  it  forever,  that  is  as 
long  as  I  lived,  to  remember  Mr.  Dart's 
kindness  by,  and  to  show,  when  I  grew 
up,  as  my  first  earnings.  Oh,  I  was  so 
proud  of  those  three  pieces  of  silver!" 

"  What  were  they  ?  "  asked  her  mother, 
looking  over  the  contents  of  the  drawer 
again. 

"  Dorft  you  remember  ?  "  exclaimed  Bes- 
sie, in  a  tone  of  great  surprise,  as  though 
it  were  really  remarkable  to  have  for- 
gotten. "Don't  you  remember?  There 
were  two  twenty-five  cent  pieces  and  a 
ten  cent  piece ! "  and  Bessie  broke  into 
fresh  weeping  again. 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  105 

"  Don't  cry  about  it,  Bessie,"  said  her 
mother,  "you  know  crying  cannot  bring 
them  back." 

"I  wouldn't  care,"  said  the  little  girl, 
"if  it  had  been  yesterday's  money,  but 
it  was  the  first,  the  very  first  I  ever 
earned  of  myself,  and  I  meant  to  save 
it  always!" 

"I  think  I  can  tell  you  exactly  how 
it  happened,  my  child.  Just  look  at 
the  untidy  appearance  of  your  drawer. 
There  are  scraps  in  it  of  a  great  many 
things  that  ought  not  to  be  there. 
Here  is  a  broken  slate,  your  worn-out 
work-basket,  your  summer  sun-bonnet, 
empty  bottles,  spools  of  cotton,  and  last 
but  not  least,  about  a  quart  of  hickory 
nuts,  —  a  nice  array,  I  am  sure." 

Bessie  hung  her  head.  She  was 
ashamed  to  have  her  disorderly  ways 


'.j 

106  LITTLE   BESSIE. 


remarked.  A  want  of  neatness  was  her 
greatest  fault. 

"I  was  just  going  to  clear  it  up  to- 
morrow," she  murmured,  twitching  rather 
uneasily  at  her  apron  strings. 

"  Oh,  my  little  girl,  that  ( just  going ' 
of  yours  is  one  of  the  saddest  things  I 
can  hear  you  say.  You  are  always  'just 
going!  and  yet  the  time  seldom  comes 
that  you  do  as  you  intend.  You  are 
full  of  good  intentions  that  you  are 
either  too  lazy  or  too  thoughtless  ever 
to  fulfil.  If  I  did  not  watch  over  you 
very  sharply,  every  thing  you  have 
would  be  like  this  miserable  looking 
drawer,  a  complete  mass  of  disorder." 

"  Oh,  I  hope  not ! "  cried  Bessie,  quite 
appalled  at  the  news. 

"  Now,"  continued  her  mother,  "  I  can 
trace  the  losing  of  your  money  back  to 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  107 

your  want  of  neatness.  In  all  probabil- 
ity, when  you  came  to  this  drawer  some 
time  to  get  a  few  of  your  hickory  nuts, 
you  have  caught  up  the  Madeira  among 
the  others,  carried  it  down  stairs,  and 
left  the  whole  pile  lying  as  you  often 
do,  somewhere  around  the  garden  till 
you  feel  in  the  humor  for  cracking 
them.  I  want  to  know,  in  the  first 
place,  why  your  hickory  nuts  were  ever 
put  in  this  drawer  among  your  books 
and  spools  of  cotton." 

Bessie  had  been  growing  warmer  and 
warmer  while  her  mother  was  speaking, 
until  it  seemed  to  her  as  though  the 
tips  of  her  ears  were  on  fire.  Convic- 
tion forced  itself  upon  her  mind  that 
her  Madeira  nut  must  have  gone  in  the 
way  her  mother  described,  for  she  remem- 
bered distinctly  having  often  taken  two 


108  LITTLE   BESSIE." 

or  three  handfuls  of  nuts  and  carried 
them  in  her  apron  down  to  the  garden, 
leaving  them  lying  carelessly  about  her 
favorite  resorts,  under  the  old  apple-tree 
for  instance,  or  on  the  big  flat  stone  by 
the  brook.  She  had  many  just  such 
idle,  unsystematic  ways  of  managing. 
She  felt  she  was  in  the  wrong,  so  she 
scarcely  knew  how  to  defend  herself. 

"I  don't  know  why  I  put  the  nuts 
there,  mother,"  she  said,  "unless  it  was 
to  get  them  out  of  the  way.  They  are 
those  that  are  left  of  the  basket  full  I 
found  in  the  woods  by  Mr.  Dart's  farm, 
one  day  when  Nelly  and  I  went  there 
together." 

"  When  will  you  learn  neatness,  Bes- 
sie?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  sobbed  Bessie,  "  never, 
I  'spect.  Seems  to  me  I  grow  worse 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  109 

and  worse.  I  don't  believe  I  shall  be 
half  as  good  when  I  am  ten  as  I  am 
now  when  I'm  only  nine.  I  wish  I  had 
never  gone  nutting,  and  then  this  wTould 
not  have  happened." 

"No,"  said  her  mother,  smiling,  "it 
never  would,  for  then  in  all  probability 
you  would  not  have  met  and  become 
friendly  with  our  good  Mr.  Dart.  Don't 
make  rash  wishes,  my  little  Bess,  because 
you  are  vexed." 

"Oh,  now  I  know,"  cried  Bessie,  as 
if  struck  with  a  sudden  idea,  "I  put  the 
nuts  in  that  drawer,  mother,  for  safety. 
Before  that  they  were  lying  spread  out 
to  dry  on  the  floor,  over  by  that  barrel. 
I  remember  thinking  that  they  were 
thinning  out  pretty  fast,  and  that  the 
rats  must  have  carried  some  away.  I 
thought  that  if  I  put  them  in  the 


110  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

drawer  they  would  last  until  I  used 
them  up." 

"Well,"  said  her  mother,  "that  betters 
the  case  a  little;  but  still  I  must  insist 
that  you  could  have  found  many  more 
appropriate  places.  If  you  had  put  them 
in  the  barrel  it  would  have  been  far 
better  than  among  your  spools,  and  I 
do  not  know  but  that  it  would  have 
been  quite  as  safe." 

Bessie's  mother  went  up  to  the  bar- 
rel in  question,  as  she  spoke,  and  scarcely 
knowing  what  she  was  doing,  shoved  it 
a  little  with  her  foot.  It  was  empty, 
and  yielded  easily.  This  change  in  its 
position  brought  to  view  the  space  be- 
tween it  and  the  wall,  and  there,  what 
did  Bessie  and  her  mother  see  but  a 
nice  little  pile  of  hickory  nut-shells! 

Bessie    uttered    an    exclamation    and 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  Ill 

sprang  forward.  She  took  up  two  or 
three,  and  found  that  a  hole  had  been 
neatly  nibbled  in  each  and  the  meat 
subtracted. 

"I  told  you  so/'  she  said  sorrowfully, 
letting  the  shells  drop  slowly  back  to 
the  pile ;  "  now  I  know  why  my  nuts 
disappeared  so  fast.  I  thought  at  first 
that  Nathan  must  have  helped  himself 
to  a  few,  when  he  has  been  here.  He 
often  runs  up  stairs  to  get  something 
or  other  io  play  with,  whe'n  he  stays 
the  whole  afternoon,  and  I  guessed  the 
nuts  had  tempted  him.  Poor  Nathan! 
I  ought  to  have  known  better." 

Bessie's  mother  stooped  and  examined 
every  shell  in  the  pile. 

"  Perhaps,"  said  she,  "  master  rat  has 
carried  off  the  Madeira  too." 

"Oh,  I  hope  so,"  cried  the  little  girl; 


112  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

"do  you  see  any  of  the  pieces  of  it, 
mother?  He  could  not  harm  the  money 
you  know,  and  that  is  what  I  care  most 
about  getting  back." 

"It  is  not  here,"  said  her  mother, 
rising,  "  but  perhaps  we  shall  hear 
something  of  it  yet.  I  want  you  to 
put  on  your  sun-bonnet  and  look  care- 
fully about  the  garden.  Take  an  hour, 
or  two  hours  if  necessary,  but  do  it  * 
thoroughly.  I  must  go  down  stairs  now 
to  my  sewing." 

Bessie  found  it  very  tedious,  sad  work 
searching  for  her  lost  treasure  that  after- 
noon. She  went  to  each  of  her  favorite 
haunts,  and  examined  them  with  great 
minuteness,  but  no  trace  of  the  nut  was 
to  be  discovered.  One  thing  seemed  to 
her  as  very  strange,  however,  and  that 
was,  that  of  all  the  small  supplies  of 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  113 

nuts  which  she  had  lately  carried  down 
to  the  garden,  and  of  which  she  did  not 
remember  even  to  have  cracked  a  single 
one,  not  so  much  as  a  fragment  of  a 
shell  was  now  to  be  found.  Only  the 
day  before  she  had  left  a  little  straw- 
berry basket  half  filled,  on  the  big  stone 
by  the  brook,  to  which  the  reader  remem- 
bers she  once  led  Mr.  Dart  to  survey 
the  cresses.  She  had  meant  to  sit  there 
and  crack  and  pick  them  out  at  once, 
at  her  leisure,  but  something  attracting 
her  attention  as  usual,  she  did  not  do 
so,  but  deserted  both  basket  and  nuts. 
The  basket  was  there  still,  but  to  her 
surprise,  it  was  quite  empty.  It  lay 
on  its  side  near  where  she  had  left  it. 
No  mark  of  any  one  having  been  there 
was  to  be  seen  in  the  muddy  grass. 
Bessie  took  up  the  basket  and  gazed 


114  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

at  it  in  silent  astonishment.  What  could 
it  mean  ?  Who  would  help  themselves 
to  her  nuts  in  this  way?  and  why  was 
the  basket  not  carried  off  also?  She 
was  still  sitting  on  the  stone  thinking 
the  whole  singular  affair -over,  when  she 
heard  Nathan  call  to  her  from  the  next 
house,  where  he  lived.  She  looked  up, 
and  there  he  was  leaning  over  the 
fence.  She  had  just  been  thinking  of 
him,  and  it  made  her  feel  unpleasantly 
to  see  him. 

"  Bess,"  cried  he,  "  what  do  you  think  ? 
father  is*  going  to  give  me  a  ride  to 
town  to-morrow." 

Bessie  scarcely  heard  him  as  she  rose, 
and  holding  up  her  empty  basket,  said 
reproachfully,  — 

"Oh,  Nathan,  how  could  you  climb 
over  the  fence  and  take  my  nuts?" 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  115 

"Nuts!"  echoed  Nathan,  "what  nuts? 
I  don't  know  any  thing  about  your  nuts." 

"Somebody  does,"  said  Bessie,  "for 
this  basket  was  half  full  yesterday,  and 
now  it  is  empty.  I  left  it  here  on  the 
stone  all  night." 

"  I  never  saw  it,"  said  Nathan ;  "  that's 
mighty  pretty  of  you  to  accuse  a  fellow 
of  stealing.  You  had  better  be  a  little 
careful." 

"I  didn't  say  you  stole,  Nathan,  I 
only  —  " 

"  Who  cares  for  your  old  nuts  ? "  inter- 
rupted Nathan,  "they're  not  worth  the 
carrying  off.  Next  thing  you'll  be  say- 
ing I  meddle  with  your  cresses." 

"No,"  said  Bessie,  a  little  sadly,  "I 
shouldn't  say  that.  There  are  only  two 
or  three  baskets-full  of  nice  ones  left, 
and  by  next  week  Mr.  Dart  will  have 


116  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

taken  them  all  to  market.  I  don't  care 
about  my  nuts,  Nathan,  it  isn't  that, 
but  I  should  like  to  know  who  took 
them." 

"  Well,  /  didn't,  anyhow,"  said  Nathan, 
"and  siDce  you  are  so  cross  about  it,  I 
shan't  stay  to  talk  to  you." 

He  clambered  down  from  the  fence 
and  walked  away  whistling,  with  his 
hands  in  his  pockets. 

Some  way,  Bessie  felt  a  presentiment 
that  Nathan  knew  more  than  he  said 
about  the  nuts.  She  concluded  to  go 
in  and  ask  her  mother  if  it  could  pos- 
sibly be  that  he  had  taken  the  missing 
money. 

Her  mother  listened  in  silence  to  all 
she  had  to  utter  on  the  subject.  Bessie 
told  her  that  Nathan  was  aware,  and 
had  been  aware  from  the  beginning, 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  117 

where  the  Madeira  nut  was  kept.  She 
said  he  was  present  when  she  first  put 
it  in  the  drawer,  which  was  indeed  true, 
as  the  reader  knows,  and  that  often 
since,  they  had  looked  at  it  together. 

"My  dear,"  said  her  mother,  when 
Bessie  concluded,  "I  do  not  see  that 
you  have  any  thing  more  than  conjecture 
on  which  to  found  your  suspicions.  It 
is  very  wrong  to  act  on  conjecture 
only." 

"But  everybody  thinks  Nat  is  a  bad 
boy,"  said  Bessie  eagerly;  "the  neigh- 
bors say  he  will  do  almost  any  thing. 
Only  last  Sunday  he  pinned  the  minis- 
ter's coat  tails  to  the  shade  of  the  church 
window,  as  he  stood  talking  to  Deacon 
Danbury,  after  meeting  was  over.  When 
the  minister  went  to  walk  off,  down 
came  the  shade  on  his  head  and  smashed 


118  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

his  new  hat.  /  think  that  a  boy  who 
will  do  that  would  take  things  that  do 
not  belong  to  him." 

"Perhaps  he  might,"  said  her  mother 
quietly. 

"Well,  shall  I  ask  him  about  it," 
demanded  Bessie. 

"My  dear  child,"  said  her  mother 
gravely,  "your  ideas  of  justice  are  one- 
sided. The  world  would  not  thrive  if 
every  one  acted  on  the  principles  you 
seem  to  advocate.  Many  an  honest  man 
might  be  imprisoned  as  a  thief  if  people 
should  take  mere  conjecture  for  proof  of 
guilt,  while  at  the  same  time,  many  a 
thief  would  pass  for  an  honest  man.  In 
law,  all  persons  are  supposed  innocent, 
until  they  are  proved  guilty.  You  did 
not  see  Nathan  take  any  thing  belonging, 
to  you,  nor  do  you  know  any  one  who 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  119 

did.  It  would  be  the  height  of  cruelty 
then,  to  accuse  him  without  absolute 
proof." 

"  Yes,"  said  Bessie,  "  but  suppose  he 
did  take  the  nut  after  all." 

"  Then,"  said  her  mother,  "  we  can 
only  leave  the  case  to  that  Judge  who 
doeth  all  things  well.  It  is  better  for 
us  to  suppose  him  innocent  even  while 
he  may  be  guilty,  than  to  suppose  him 
guilty  when  he  is  innocent." 

"I  wish  I  Jcnew"  said  Bessie,  as  she 
took  up  her  shears  and  basket  to  go 
out  to  get  the  cresses  for  the  next  day's 
market. 

"  The  cold  weather  will  soon  put  a 
stop  to  the  cresses,  I  am  afraid,"  remarked 
her  mother,  after  a  pause. 

"Yes,"    said    Bessie,    "Mr.    Dart    says 


120  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

they  are  getting  poor  now ;  they  do  not 
grow  fast  after  cutting,  any  more,  on 
account  of  the  frost." 

"  Never  mind,"  said  her  mother  cheer- 
fully, "in  the  spring,  which  after  all  is 
not  so  very  far  off,  they  will  become 
fine  again,  and  then  you  can  begin  to 
sell  as  fast  as  ever.  If  I  am  well  then, 
as  I  hope  and  trust  I  shall  be,  we  must 
not  touch  a  penny  of  your  money,  Bessie. 
It  shall  all  be  saved  to  send  you  regu- 
larly to  Miss  Milly's  school,  and  buy 
books  for  you  to  learn  out  of,  and  per- 
haps, who  knows,  there  will  be  some- 
thing left  to  put  in  the  bank  besides. 
This  fall  the  cresses  have  fed  our  poor, 
suffering  bodies,  but  next  spring,  if 
nothing  happens,  they  shall  feed  my 
Bessie's  mind." 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  121 

"School!"  cried  Bessie,  dropping  both 
the  basket  and  the  scissors  in  her  delight, 
"  shall  I  really  go  to  school  ?  And  all 
through  the  water-cresses?  Why,  we 
never  thought  our  dear  little  brook 
would  make  us  so  rich,  did  we,  mother  ?  " 


122  LITTLE   BESSIE. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE    NEST. 

ONE  clear  and  cold  morning  in  winter, 
as  Bessie  was  passing  along  the  road 
that  led  by  Nelly's  home,  she  heard 
Martin  call  her  from  the  barn  where 
he  was  at  work.  He  saw  her  passing 
and  beckoned  to  her  to  come  to  him. 
Bessie  had  the  singular  habit  which 
most  children  possess  of  stopping  to  ask 
why  she  was  summoned,  when  at  the 
same  time  she  fully  intended  to  answer 
the  call  in  person.  So  she  stood  still, 
and  in  a  loud  voice  cried, 

"Mar-TiN,  what  is  it?  What  do  you 
want  of  me?" 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  123 

"Come  and  see!"  replied  Martin,  "I've 
something  nice  to  show  you!"  and  then 
he  resumed  his  place  at  the  hay-cutting 
machine,  at  which  he  had  been  busy 
when  he  espied  her.  He  was  mincing 
the  hay  for  the  cattle  to  eat. 

Bessie  still  stood  irresolute.  She  meant 
to  come,  but  she  desired  her  curiosity 
to  be  gratified  before  she  did  so. 

"Mar-TiN?" 

"Well?" 

"  Can't  you  tell  me  now  what  it  is  ? " 

"  No,"  replied  Martin,  going  on  with 
his  hay  chopping;  "I  guess  you  will 
have  to  come  and  see  for  yourself.  "It 
almost  splits  my  throat  to  be  calling 
out  to  you  so." 

"I  think  you  might  tell  me,"  said 
Bessie,  opening  the  gate  and  walking 
towards  him;  "you  could  have  done 


124  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

it  in  half  the  time  that  you  have  been 
talking  about  it.  Mercy!  have  you  cut 
all  that  pile  of  hay  this  morning?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Martin ;  "  it's  for  the  horses. 
I  sprinkle  a  little  water  on  it,  and  they 
like  it  a  great  deal  better  than  when 
it  is  dry  and  uncut.  It's  healthier  for 
them  too." 

"I  am  glad  I  don't  live  on  it/'  said 
Bessie.  "I  should  be  like  the  horse 
that  his  master  fed  on  shavings, — just 
as  I  got  used  to  it  I  should  die." 

"Very  likely,"  said  Martin,  laughing. 
"Come,  and  I'll  show  you  what  I  spoke 
about."  Bessie  followed  him  as  he  led 
the  way  across  the  yard  to  the  part  of 
the  barn  where  the  large  folding-doors 
were  situated.  They  were  wide  open, 
and  the  clear  winter  sunshine  streamed 
on  the  floor.  An  old  wagon  and  a  lad- 


'A  couple  of  white  shppp  camp  nmnin;:  i>!i;ri>rlv   up   to- Mnrtin's  outstretched 
hind."  —  p.  125. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  125 

der  were  placed  across  this  opening,  so 
that  no  one  could  come  in  or  go  out 
without  climbing  over. 

"  What  is  this  for  ? "  asked  Bessie. 
"This  wagon  don't  belong  here,  Martin. 
I  never  saw  it  here  before." 

"  That's  to  keep  the  cows  out,"  said 
Martin,  smiling.  "We  have  treasures  in 
this  part  of  the  barn  that  it  would  not 
do  for  the  cattle  to  get  at.  Here  Nanny, 
here  Jinny!" 

A  pattering  of  little  hoofs  was  heard 
on  the  wooden  floor,  and  a  couple  of 
white  sheep  came  running  eagerly  up 
to  Martin's  outstretched  hand.  They 
rubbed  themselves  against  it,  and  showed 
in  various  other  ways  how  glad  they 
were  to  see  him. 

"Aren't  they  pretty?"  said  Bessie 
admiringly.  "Come  here,  Nanny." 


126  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

But  Nanny  would  not  touch  Bessie's 
hand,  and  backed  up  the  barn,  shaking 
her  head  at  the  sight  of  it,  and  kicking 
her  delicate  little  heels  in  the  air. 

"  They  don't  know  you  yet/'  said 
Martin,  "but  they  are  very  tame,  and 
would  soon  become  acquainted  if  you 
were  with  them  every  day  as  I  am. 
We  have  had  them  two  weeks,  and 
already  they  let  me  play  with  them. 
They  are ,  cossets." 

"  Cossets,  Martin?" 

"Yes;  that  means  the  pets  of  the 
flock.  The  cosset  lamb  means  the  pet 
lamb." 

"Pet  is  a  prettier  word  than  cosset," 
said  Bessie;  "I  should  never  call  them 
that.  I  do  wish  mother  had  two  such 
nice  sheep.  But  why  do  you  keep 
them  shut  up  here?" 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  127 

"You  haven't  seen  all  yet,"  said  Mar- 
tin, smiling;  "just  creep  through  this 
place  and  round  by  these  wheels,  and 
we  will  go  in  and  find  out  why  the 
cows  are  kept  out  and  the  sheep  kept 
in." 

Martin  helped  Bessie  through  the  ob- 
structions, and  led  her  to  the  back  of 
the  barn  where,  nestled  in  a  heap  of 
clean  hay  that  was  piled  against  the 
opposite  folding  doors,  she  saw  a  little 
bundle  of  something  white,  in  which 
she  could  just  detect  two  small,  glitter- 
ing eyes. 

"It's  a  lamb,"  cried  Bessie,  skipping 
about  as  if  she  were  one  herself. 

"Two  of  'em,"  said  Martin.  "Only 
look  here ! "  and  he  pulled  apart  the 
loose  whisps  of  hay,  and  there  lay 
revealed  two  of  the  fattest,  whitest,  and 


128  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

prettiest  lambs  that  ever  were  seen. 
They  did  not  seem  to  like  being  admired, 
but  gave  utterance  to  a  little  sharp  cry 
very  much  like  a  baby's.  Hearing  it, 
one  of  the  sheep  trotted  up,  and  pushing 
between  them  and  Martin,  quietly  began 
to  lick  them. 

"That's  their  mother,"  said  Martin. 
"  They  are  twins,  and  only  two  days  old. 
The  other  old  sheep  is  a  twin  of  this 
old  one,  and  they  are  so  Jfond  of  each 
other  that  we  cannot  keep  them  sepa- 
rate. At  first  we  were  afraid  the  aunty 
would  injure  the  young  ones,  and  we 
shut  her  out  in  the  barn-yard,  but  she 
came  and  stood  at  the  door,  there  by 
the  wagon,  and  cried  so  piteously  that 
Mr.  Brooks  told  me  she  might  stay  in 
with  her  sister  and  her  baby  nieces.  We 
could  not  bear  to  hear  her  bleat  so." 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  129 

"Don't  she  bite  or  tread  on  them?" 
asked  Bessie. 

"No,"  said  Martin,  "I  think  she  is 
very  tender  with  them.  This  morning 
one  of  the  men  threw  a  handful  of  hay 
accidentally  in  a  lamb's  face,  and  when 
it  tried  to  push  it  off  but  couldn't,  what 
does  old  aunty  do  but  walk  up  and  eat 
it  away,  every  whisp.  I  thought  that 
was  quite  bright  of  her,  and  kind  too. 
On  the  whole  I  think  they  are  a  happy 
family." 

"Does  Nelly  like  'em?"  asked  Bessie, 
as  she  patted  the  head  of  the  one  Mar- 
tin called  the  "aunty." 

"Yes,"  said  Martin,  "she  thinks  they 
are  the  handsomest  animals  on  the  place. 
They  grow  fonder  of  her  every  day." 

"  I  hope  her  father  don't  mean  to  have 


130  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

them  killed,"  remarked  Bessie,  a  little 
sadly. 

"  No  indeed,"  cried  Martin,  "  he  bought 
them  for  pets,  and  to  look  pretty  run- 
ning about  the  meadow  in  the  summer 
time.  He  says  they  are  too  tame  and 
loving  to  be  killed.  I  shouldn't  like  to 
think  of  such  a  thing,  I  am  sure.  There, 
—  do  see  old  Moolly  poking  her  head 
over  the  wagon !  How  she  does  want 
to  come  in!  She  always  was  our  pet 
before,  and  I  suppose  it  makes  her  a 
little  jealous.  Poor  Moolly,  —  good  little 
Moolly." 

Martin  picked  up  a  corn-cob  and 
rubbed  the  cow's  ears.  She  stood  quite 
still  to  let  him  do  it,  and  when  he 
stopped  she  stretched  out  her  head  for 
more  and  looked  at  him  as  if  she  had 
not  had  half  her  share. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  131 

"Are  the  little  lambs  named?"  asked 
Bessie,  as  she  got  up  from  the  hay 
to  go. 

"No,"  said  Martin;  "Nelly's  father 
told  her  she  might  call  them  any  thing 
she  wanted,  but  she  thinks  they  are 
such  funny  little  long-legged  things  that 
she  cannot  find  names  pretty  enough. 
When  they  grow  stronger  they  will  frisk 
about  and  be  full  of  play." 

"I  mean  to  run  over  to  the  house  to 
see  her  and  ask  her  about  it,"  said  Bes- 
sie. "I  am  real  glad  you  called  me, 
Martin,  to  look  at  them." 

Martin  went  back  to  his  hay-cutting, 
and  Bessie  bade  him  good-by,  and  skipped 
along  the  path  to  the  house.  Bessie 
always  skipped  instead  of  walking  or 
running,  when  she  was  particularly 
pleased  with  any  thing.  On  knocking 


132  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

at  the  farm-house  door,  she  was  told  to 
her  great  sorrow  that  Nelly  was  not 
within,  but  when  she  heard  that  she 
had  just  started  to  pay  a  visit  to  herself, 
that  sorrow  was  changed  to  joy,  and 
she  turned  to  go  home  with  a  very 
light  heart  and  a  pair  of  very  brisk 
feet. 

"Perhaps  I  can  overtake  her,"  she 
said  to  herself;  but  go  as  fast  as  she 
could,  she  saw  nothing  of  Nelly  on  the 
road.  When  she  reached  home,  she  was 
so  warm  with  the  exercise  that  it  seemed 
to  her  as  though  the  day  were  a  very 
mild  one  indeed.  As  she  pushed  open 
the  door  of  the  kitchen,  her  eyes  were 
so  bright  and  her  cheeks  so  red  from 
her  little  run,  that  her  mother  looked 
up  from  her  work  and  asked  what  she 
had  been  doing. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  133 

"Only  racing  down  the  hill  to  find 
Nelly,"  panted  Bessie,  sinking  into  a 
chair  as  she  spoke.  "Isn't  she  here?  I 
didn't  overtake  her." 

"No,"  replied  her  mother,  "Nelly  has 
been  here  and  gone.  She  was  sorry 
you  were  out." 

«  Gone ! "  echoed  Bessie.  «  Well,  if  that 
is  not  too  bad!  Mrs.  Brooks  said  she 
had  just  started.  I  am  so  sorry.  Did 
she  tell  you  which  way  she  was  going?" 

"  No,"  said  her  mother,  "  she  did  not, 
but  she  said  perhaps  she  would  stop  on 
her  way  back.  Come,  take  off  your 
hat  and  shawl  and  hang  them  up,  and 
then  begin  hemming  one  of  these  tow- 
els. I  am  in  a  great  hurry  to  get  them 
done.  They  are  Mrs.  Raynor's,  and  I 
promised  to  send  them  home  to-mor- 
row." 


134  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

Bessie  loved  to  romp  and  play  much 
better  than  to  sew,  and  these  words  of 
her  mother's  did  not  consequently  fill 
her  with  satisfaction.  She  knew,  how- 
ever, that  by  sewing  their  living  was 
to  be  gained,  so  she  choked  down  the 
fretful  words  that  rose  to  her  lips.  She 
felt  that  it  was  hard  enough  for  her 
mother  to  work,  without  having  her 
repinings  to  endure  also.  The  glow  and 
cheerful  effect  of  her  walk,  however, 
faded  away  as  she  slowly  untied  her 
hood,  and  hung  it  with  her  shawl  on  a 
peg  behind  the  door.  She  was  deeply 
disappointed  at  Nelly's  absence. 

"I  wish  she  would  have  waited  a 
little  while,"  she  said;  "I  don't  see  her 
so  often  now  the  winter  has  set  in,  that 
I  can  afford  to  miss  her.  Mother,  have 
you  seen  my  thimble?" 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  135 

"  What !  "  said  her  mother,  "  lost  again, 
Bessie?  What  shall  I  do  with  this  care- 
less girl?  There  is  my  old  one,  you 
can  use  that  for  a  little  while." 

"Oh,  now  I  remember,"  cried  Bessie, 
springing  up,  "I  left  it  in  the  garret, 
in  the  drawer  of  the  old  table,  the  last 
time  I  was  there.  I'll  get  it,  and  be 
down  again  in  a  moment." 

She  opened  the  door  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs,  and  ran  quickly  up  them. 
She  did  not  notice  that  she  left  the 
door  wide  open,  and  that  the  cold  air 
rushed  into  the  warm  kitchen,  nor  did 
she  know  that  her  mother,  sighing,  was 
obliged  to  rise  from  her  work  and  shut 
it  after  her. 

On  went  Bessie,  and  turning  the  land- 
ing, began  the  second  flight,  two  steps 
at  a  time,  as  usual.  She  was  very  light- 


136  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

footed,  and  owing  to  her  disappointment 
about  Nelly,  she  did  not  feel  quite  gay 
enough  to  hum  the  little  tunes  which 
she  generally  did  when  going  about  the 
house,  so  that  altogether  she  scarcely 
made  any  noise.  Perhaps  it  was  owing 
to  this  that,  as  she  reached  the  head 
of  the  garret  stairs,  she  saw  something 
run  across  the  floor,  evidently  alarmed 
at  her  unexpected  appearance.  She 
stood  still  for  a  moment,  hardly  knowing 
what  it  was,  and  not  wishing  to  go  any 
further  in  the  fear  of  frightening  it 
away  before  she  could  get  a  good  look 
at  it.  She  decided  at  once,  however, 
from  its  size,  that  it  was  not  a  rat,  for 
it  was  far  too  large.  It  had  taken  refuge 
behind  some  old  furniture  in  a  corner, 
and  in  the  hope  that  if  she  kept  per- 
fectly still,  it  would  venture  out  again, 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  137 

she  sat  down  on  the  top  step,  and  fixed 
her  eyes  intently  on  the  spot  where  she 
had  beheld  it  disappear.  She  had  re- 
mained thus  but  a  short  time  when  she 
heard  hasty  footsteps  coming  from  the 
kitchen,  and  a  voice  that  she  recog- 
nized as  that  of  Nelly,  called  her  name. 
She  did  not  answer,  for  she  wanted  to 
unravel  the  mystery,  whatever  it  might 
be,  and  when  Nelly,  still  calling,  followed 
her  up  to  the  stairs  on  which  she  sat, 
she  put  her  finger  on  her  lip  by  way 
of  enjoining  silence,  and  beckoned  to 
her  to  come  to  her.  Nelly  understood 
in  a  moment,  and  slipping  off  her  heavy 
winter  walking  shoes,  crept  up  and  sat 
down  beside  her. 

"  Hush  !  "  whispered  Bessie,  "  don't 
make  a  sound.  There  is  some  sort  of 
a  little  animal  concealed  behind  that 


138  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

old  fire-board,  and  I  want  to  see  it  come 
out." 

She  spoke  so  low  that  Nelly  had  dif- 
ficulty in  getting  at  the  sense  of  what 
she  said,  but  when  she  did,  she  nodded 
slightly,  and  the  two  little  girls  began 
the  watch  together. 

They  sat  there  a  long,  long  time. 

Once  or  twice  they  thought  they 
heard  a  movement  behind  the  fire-board, 
but  they  saw  nothing.  At  last,  just  as 
they  were  becoming  very  weary  of 
remaining  so  long  in  the  cold,  Nelly 
caught  sight  of  a  small  pointed  nose, 
projecting  from  one  side  of  the  board. 
As  this  nose  moved  slowly  forward,  a 
pair  of  bright  little  eyes  came  into  view 
also,  rolling  restlessly  about,  as  if  seek- 
ing to  espy  danger.  It  was  with  diffi- 
culty the  children  could  repress  the 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  139 

exclamations  that  were  on  their  lips, 
but  with  an  effort  they  did  so,  and  re- 
mained just  as  quiet  as  before.  Encour- 
aged by  the  dead  stillness,  the  animal 
advanced  still  further  from  its  retreat, 
peering  all  the  while  about  it.  Its  body, 
as  near  as  they  could  see,  was  spotted 
gray  and  white,  and  so  were  its  pretty 
ears,  which  were  long,  and  in  constant 
motion.  It  ran  cautiously  from  its  place 
of  concealment,  and  at  last,  with  a 
graceful,  hurried  spring,  landed  on  the 
top  of  Bessie's  table.  Arrived  there,  it 
sat  down  and  looked  about  it  again. 
The  children  did  not  move.  The  drawer 
of  the  table,  as  usual,  was  partially  open, 
according  to  Bessie's  careless  habit,  and 
the  little  creature  put  its  mites  of  paws 
carefully  in  the  crack,  bringing  them. 


140  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

out  again  almost  immediately  with  a 
nut,  at  which  at  once  it  commenced  to 
nibble.  It  was  an  odd  sight  as  it  sat 
there  on  its  hind  legs,  holding  the  nut 
in  its  front  paws,  and  twisting  and  turn- 
ing it  from  side  to  side  in  order  to  find 
a  good  place  to  plant  its  sharp  teeth. 
Nelly  glanced  at  Bessie  and  longed  to 
burst  into  a  laugh,  but  Bessie  signified 
to  her  by  a  movement  of  her  eye-brows 
and  lips  that  she  must  not.  It  was 
plain  enough  by  this  time  that  the  little 
thief  was  a  squirrel.  Bessie  was  quite 
bewildered  at  the  thought  that  it  had 
been  able  to  get  in  the  house  without 
her  or  her  mother's  knowledge.  She 
did  not  know  that  the  race  to  which 
the  animal  belonged  is  proverbial  for 
its  cunning,  and  that  often  it  steals  a 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  141 

way  into  the  habitations  of  men  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  find  seeds  and 
grains  on  which  to  live. 

Some  accidental  movement  which  Bes- 
sie made,  at  length  startled  the  squirrel 
from  its  sense  of  security.  It  leaped 
lightly  from  the  table  to  the  floor,  and 
disappeared  behind  some  loose  blocks 
of  wood,  near  the  fire-board.  As  it  did 
so,  Nelly  saw  that  part  of  its  tail  was 
missing,  looking  as  if  torn  off  at  about 
half  its  length. 

"  Bessie ! "  she  exclaimed  eagerly,  as 
her  companion  made  a  dart  for  the 
blocks  of  wood,  "  Bessie,  as  sure  as 

you're    alive,    that's    the    same    squirrel 

* 

we  saw  in  the  woods,  the  day  we  went 
nutting." 

"I   know  it,"   cried   Bessie;    "at  least 


142  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

I  am  as  sure  as  I  can  be,  for  that  one 
was  like  this,  spotted  white  and  gray, 
and  each  of  them  had  only  a  part  of 
a  tail.  To  think  of  the  little  thing 
being  so  hungry  as  to  come  after  my 
nuts!  If  I  can  only  find  its  hole,  I'll 
feed  it  regularly  every  day." 

"What  could  bring  it  so  far  from  the 
woods  ?  "  cried  Nelly,  laughing.  "  I  never 
heard  of  any  thing  more  strange,  even 
in  a  book." 

"You  stay  here  and  watch  if  it  comes 
out  again,"  said  Bessie,  "and  I'll  run 
tell  mother.  Perhaps  she  can  help  find 
its  hiding-place." 

Nelly  went  with  her  as  far  as  the 
foot  of  the  stairs  to  get  her  shoes,  for 
her  feet  were  now  growing  very  cold. 
Then  she  returned  to  the  garret,  but 


LITTLE    BESSIE.  143 

nothing  more  had  been  seen  of  the 
squirrel  when  Bessie  appeared  with  her 
mother. 

"It  was  here,  just  here,  that  it  went 
out  of  sight,"  cried  Bessie;  "somewhere 
by  these  blocks  and  this  old  fire-board." 

Her  mother  laughed,  and  said  if  there 
were  nothing  worse  than  a  squirrel  in 
the  house,  she  should  be  glad. 

"We  must  look,"  she  added,  "and 
perhaps  we  can  discover  its  nest ;  that 
is,  if  it  has  one  here,  for,  Bessie,  it  has 
just  occurred  to  me  that  this  is  the 
way  your  Madeira  nut  disappeared.  If 
we  can  find  the  nest  we  may  find  your 
money  too,"  and  she  began  to  move  out 
the  furniture  from  the  wall. 

At  the  mention  of  the  Madeira  nut, 
Bessie  colored  deeply,  and  really  seemed 
struck  with  true  shame. 


144  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

66  Oh,  mother,"  she  said,  "  to  think  that 
I  have  never,  all  this  while,  cleaned  out 
that  drawer!  Some  of  the  nuts  are 
still  in  it,  and  the  other  things  too,  just 
as  they  were  that  day  when  I  lost  my 
money.  I  have  meant  to  clear  it  out 
so  many  times!" 

Her  mother  turned  and  looked  at  her 
sorrowfully. 

"Bessie,"  she  said,  "I  have  for  years 
done  all  I  could  do,  to  make  a  careful, 
neat  little  girl,  out  of  a  careless,  untidy 
one.  I  am  beginning  now  to  leave  you 
to  yourself,  hoping  that  time  will  help 
you  to  see  yourself  as  others  see  you. 
I  have  noticed  often  that  your  drawer 
remained  in  the  same  condition,  but  I 
did  not  speak  of  it." 

"Oh,  mother,"  cried  Bessie,  frightened, 
"  don't  leave  me  to  myself,  don't.  I  shall 


LJTTLE   BESSIE.  145 

never  learn  to  be  good  at  all,  that  way. 
Oh,  don't  give  me  up  yet." 

"  My  poor  child,"  said  her  mother,  "  if 
you  will  only  try,  so  that  I  can  see  you 
trying,  my  confidence  in  you  will  come 
back,  but  not  otherwise.  I  want  some- 
thing more  than  empty  promises.  You 
forget  them  as  soon  as  you  make  them." 

"But  I  will  try,  I  will  really  try  this 
time,"  said  Bessie  with  tears  in  her 
eyes.  "I'm  lazy,  mother,  I'm  real  lazy, 
but  I  am  not  as  bad  as  I  might  be. 
I'll  clean  the  drawer  just  as  soon  as  we 
look  for  the  nest,  sure" 

"Well,"  said  her  mother,  half  smiling 
at  the  little  girl's  doleful  tone,  "well,  I 
will  give  you  this  one  more  chance. 
We  will  take  the  drawer  for  a  new 
starting  point.  Come,  Nelly,  let  us 
search  now  for  the  squirrel's  hole.  It 


10 


146  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

must  be  somewhere  about  here,  for  it 
would  never  come  up  by  the  stairs,  I 
think." 

They  began  a  thorough  hunt,  lifting 
up  every  light  article  in  the  out-garret, 
where  they  were,  and  dragging  the  more 
ponderous  furniture  from  their  places. 
It  was  a  sort  of  store-away  place  for 
things  not  in  every-day  use,  and  there- 
fore it  took  some  time  to  examine  every 
thing.  An  occasional  pile  of  nibbled  nut- 
shells was  all  that  was  brought  to  light. 

"Well,"  said  Nelly,  laughing,  as  she 
looked  under  the  last  article,  a  little 
broken  chair  belonging  to  Bessie.  "Well, 
I  don't  see  but  that  Madame  Squirrel 
has  escaped  us.  I  can't  meet  with  a 
trace  of  her,  for  my  part,  beyond  these 
nut-shells." 

"Nor  I  either,"  wofully  added   Bessie. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  147 

"Yet  how  could  it"  have  run  away 
from  us,  since  we  can  find  no  hole  in 
the  floor,  and  Nelly  did  not  see  it  run 
into  any  of  these  other  rooms?"  asked 
Bessie's  mother. 

"Perhaps  it  is  hidden  in  the  furniture 
itself,"  remarked  Nelly. 

"  Stop  a  moment,"  said  Bessie's  mother, 
as  Nelly  began  to  pull  out  the  drawers 
of  an  old  bureau,  "here  are  some  cross- 
beams in  the  wall  by  the  fire-board, 
that  look  very  much  as  though  a  set 
of  sharp  teeth  had  nibbled  a  hole  in 
them,  —  yes,  it  is  so!  Well,  I  think 
we've  tracked  the  squirrel  now!  The 
place  is  such  a  little  way  from  the  floor, 
that  it  could  jump  in  and  scamper  off 
through  the  walls,  before  any  one  could 
molest  it.  Perhaps  it  is  far  away  in  the 
woods,  laughing  at  us,  at  this  minute." 


148  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

The  children  drew  near  the  beams  in 
question,  with  strong  curiosity.  It  was 
indeed  as  Bessie's  mother  said ;  there 
wer^  the  marks  of  teeth  in  the  wood, 
and  just  where  the  beams  joined  was 
a  hole  quite  large  enough  for  a  squirrel 
to  pass  through. 

"It   is   the   same   one  we  saw  in   the 

» 

woods,  I  know  it  is,"  said  Nelly,  "but 
what  should  bring  it  here?" 

"Perhaps,  in  time,  we  can  tame  it; 
that  is  if  we  have  not  already  frightened 
it  away.  May  I  try  to  tame  it,  mother  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother.  "  I  think  Bun- 
ny will  make  a  pretty  pet.  We  can 
strew  a  few  grains  of  corn,  or  a  few 
nuts  about  its  hole  every  day,  until  it 
learns  to  regard  us  as  its  friends;  but 
a  little  girl  that  I  know  must  get  into 
the  good  habit  of  putting  her  things  in 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  149 

their  proper  places,  and  shutting  her 
table  drawers  tight,  or  it  will  continue 
to  help  itself  to  more  valuable  things, 
and  make  itself  a  plague  to  us.  r  do 
not  doubt  that  Bunny  has  your  money 
in  its  nest  at  this  minute.  It  thought, 
probably,  that  it  was  carrying  off  a 
good,  sound  nut." 

"Yes,"  said  Bessie,  "and  I  dare  say 
it  was  it  that  ran  off  with  those  in  my 
basket,  and  all  the  others  in  the  garden. 
Poor,  dear  Nathan !  I  must  tell  him 
about  it,  and  ask  him  to  forget  my 
cross  words.  One  of  my  Sunday-school 
hymns  says, '  Kind  words  can  never  die.' 

V  «/  •/ 

I  wonder  if  the  unkind  words  live  for- 
ever too.     Do  they,  mother?" 

"I  hope  not,"  was  the  answer,  "but 
many  an  unkind  word  leaves  a  sting  in 


150  LITTLE    BESSIE. 

the  mind  of  the  person  to  whom  it  is 
said,  long  after  the  one  who  uttered  it 
has  entirely  forgotten  it.  I  don't  believe 
Nathan,  for  instance,  will  soon  cease  to 
remember  that  you  asked  him  why  he 
took  your  nuts.  You  acted  too  impul- 
sively." 

"Too  what,  mother?"  asked  Bessie, 
curiously. 

"Too  impulsively.  That  is,  you  did  not 
wait  to  consider  the  matter,  but  spoke 
out  just  as  you  felt,  as  soon  as  you  saw 
him.  You  must  certainly  ask  him  to 
excuse  you.  If  you  are  always  very 
gentle  to  him  in  future,  perhaps  your 
offence  will  be  forgotten.  There  is  no 
end  to  the  soothing  effect  of  those  '  kind 
words  that  never  die ! ' ' 

"He  was  cross  enough  with  me  about 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  151 

it,"  said  Bessie,  reflectively.  "I  think 
a  few  kind  words  would  not  hurt  him 
to  say." 

"  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  Nathan 
as  to  that,"  said  her  mother.  "If  he 
chooses  to  be  ill-tempered,  it  is  his  own 
business,  while  it  is  ours  to  bear  it  from 
him  patiently.  It  is  only  by  such  means 
that  we  can  teach  him  how  wrong  he 
is." 

"I  think  that  is  pretty  hard  to  do," 
said  Bessie,  shaking  her  head,  "don't 
you,  Nelly?  /  always  want  to  answer 
right  straight  back." 

"And  if  you  do,"  said  her  mother, 
"you  will  find  that  you  invariably  make 
the  case  worse  than  before.  A  noble 
poet,  whose  works  you  may  read  when 
you  are  older,  has  said,  'Be  silent  and 


152  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

endure!'  and  experience  will  prove  to 
you  both,  that  this  silence  and  this 
endurance  is  the  true  key  to  happiness. 
Now,  run  down  stairs,  Bessie,  and  bring 
me  up  the  little  saw.  The  idea  has 
just  come  to  me,  to  saw  away  some 
of  the  board  at  the  side  of  these  beams. 
That  will  give  us  a  good  view  of  what 
is  going  on  in  the  wall,  and  will  not 
hurt  its  appearance  much,  either." 

Bessie  soon  reappeared  with  the  saw, 
which,  as  it  was  small,  her  mother  had 
no  difficulty  in  handling.  She  took  it 
from  her  and  began  operations  at  once, 
inserting  the  sharp  end  of  it  in  a  crevice 
in  the  wood,  and  moving  it  gradually 
across  the  grain,  until  the  end  of  the 
board  fell  on  the  floor,  where  the  saw- 
dust already  lay. 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  153 

"Oh,  let  me  see!"  cried  Bessie,  in 
wild  delight  at  this  exposure  of  the 
squirrel's  haunt.  And 

"  Oh,  let  me  see  too ! "  cried  Nelly. 

But  Bessie's  mother  said  she  thought 
she  had  better  take  a  peep  first,  so  she 
lowered  her  eyes  to  the  aperture  and 
looked  in.  It  was  dark,  and  her  eyes, 
accustomed  to  the  sun-light,  at  first 
could  distinguish  nothing.  Gradually, 
however,  she  found  that  she  could  see 
a  little  way  around  the  hole  with  great 
distinctness,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
a  small  heap  of  rags,  apparently, 
attracted  her  attention  on  one  of  the 
corner  beams. 

"  What  is  it,  mother  ?  what  do  you 
find?"  cried  Bessie,  as  her  mother  put 
in  her  hand  to  feel  what  this  heap 
could  be.  Something  warm  met  the 


154  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

touch  of  her  fingers,  and  she  drew  back, 
slightly  startled. 

On  examining  further,  she  found  that 
this  was  indeed  the  animal's  nest,  and 
that  these  soft,  warm  objects,  curled  up 
in  it  so  nicely,  were  probably  her  little 
young  ones. 

"There!"  she  said,  laughing,  "come 
see,  children,  what  I  have  found!  Here 
is  the  squirrel's  nest,  and  two  of  her 
little  babies!" 

The  girls  peered  eagerly  through  the 
hole  at  these  newly  discovered  treasures. 

"  The  darlings ! "  cried  Bessie,  "  we 
can  surely  tame  these  little  creatures, 
mother,  they  are  so  young.  It  will  be 
no  trouble  at  all." 

"We  must  not  take  them  from  the 
nest,"  replied  her  mother.  "If  we  can 
tame  them  by  kindness,  and  by  gradu- 


LITTLE   BESSIE.  .  155 

ally  accustoming  them  to  our  harmless 
visits,  I  am  very  willing  to  make  pets 
of  them." 

"  Oh,  how  pleasant  that  will  be,"  ex- 
claimed Bessie,  in  an  ecstasy.  "  Do  look, 
Nelly,  at  their  pretty  eyes.  I  don't 
know  but  that  I  shall  be  just  as  well 
satisfied  with  my  two  little  squirrels  as 
you  are  with  your  two  lambs." 

As  she  spoke,  she  put  in  her  hand  to 
touch  the  tiny  animals  on  the  head, 
and  smooth  them  softly,  but  something 
at  the  side  of  the  nest  suddenly  arrested 
her  attention,  and  she  did  not  do  so. 

"  Oh,  mother,"  she  cried,  "  I  do  believe 
here  is  my  Madeira  nut,  among  this 
rubbish  and  empty  hickory  shells  about 
the  nest.  I  do  believe  it,  —  I  do  believe 
it!  It  looks  like  it,  I  am  positive  of 
that.  It  seems  whole,  too.  I  don't  think 


156  LITTLE   BESSIE. 

it  has  been  nibbled  at  all!  How  glad 
I  am ! " 

"  Can  you  reach  it  ? "  asked  her 
mother;  "if  you  can,  do  so." 

Bessie  made  what  she  called  "a  long 
arm,"  and  in  a  moment  more  she  seized 
the  nut  and  brought  it  into  open  day- 
light. 

"  Oh,  mother,"  she  said,  dancing  around 
the  garret  joyfully,  "  it  is  my  nut !  Here 
is  a  little  place  in  the  side  where  the 
squirrel  has  bitten,  and  you  can  see  the 
money  right  through  it !  She  found  that 
there  was  nothing  good  to  eat  in  it,  so 
she  stopped  just  iii  time  not  to  spoil  it 
entirely.  I  am  so  glad  —  I  am  so  glad!" 


THE    END. 


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